Isane
by adrien skywalker
Summary: The Shinigami is known to have a cruel sense of humor. Naruto learns it too late. He doesn't know what to hate, the shinigami, or the fact that he is a girl now, or the fact that he/she is supposed to be with Itachi and be his new girlfriend. Ita/FemNaru - On Indefinite Hiatus
1. Damn it All! I don't want to be a GIRL!

**AUTHORS NOTE:** Well, to those who asked why I removed The Music of Life, well, it wasn't moving anywhere, so I dropped it for now, and will maybe bring it back in the future. Shinobi clan wars will end in the next two weeks or so, and I needed to start another one just to you know keep my edge. And don't worry, Sarutobi Naruto, Uesugi and Nidaime will be updated in the next week or so. Just because I take time to update doesn't mean I will abandon them.

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"What the hell is going on?" Naruto wondered as he came to. "Uh, what the hell did Sasuke do now?" he grumbled as he remembered both of them fighting, when his hair fell over his eyes. He absentmindedly swatted over his hair when he stopped.

_Wait a minute, my hair is not that long, and how is my hair…black? What the hell is going on here…what is…?_

His musing was cut short as he suddenly felt something odd. His hands lowered down involuntarily and as they reached his chest region he suddenly stopped. His hands went over two lumps which were not present before. He instantly began to hyperventilate and pushed off the bedspread he was covered with and sat up.

He looked around wildly and as soon as he spotted a mirror he scooted over and looked at the reflection and stopped. In front of him was the image of a young girl around 14 or 15 years old, with luxurious black hair, around 5'9, with a lithe build and a surprisingly well developed bust for her age.

He looked around the room and saw that his room was tastefully furnished, with a bed, a wardrobe with surprisingly simple tasted clothes, just a few cosmetics, but a huge rack of books, medical books. He saw the name and stopped. Uchiha, Isane Uchiha.

At that moment, everything went black and two figures appeared in front of him. One was a tall woman, with white hair with a purplish hue. She wore a shihakusho, and held a sheathed wakizashi in her hands. The second drew his glance more quickly. Standing in front of him with that same condescending attitude, with that open battle kimono and black sword was Sasuke Uchiha.

"What the hell is going on here?" he growled.

The woman stepped forward while Naruto noticed that Sasuke stayed back. Even he too appeared to be sulking.

"You are here, because you are both dead, well he is dead and you are in the past," she spoke.

"What?" Naruto roared while the woman stepped back and looked at Sasuke, "Is he always like this?"

Sasuke grunted, "Unfortunately, yes,"

Naruto pouted and turned away.

"But, who the hell are you?" he asked as he turned to face the woman.

"I am a shinigami," she muttered.

Naruto gaped.

"You can't be the shinigami!" he blurted.

"And why not?" she asked with a frown.

"Well, the shinigami is supposed to be all huge and ugly and well, scary looking, but you are so… pretty," he ended with a whisper.

The woman arched her eyebrows. "I don't know whether I should be flattered or insulted," she muttered lackadaisically and turned to face Naruto.

"Well, I am what you get, so deal with it, now what say we get back to our discussion," she frowned as she looked at him.

"Yeah, and you can start by telling me why I am a girl!" he asked crossly.

"Well, we will get to that, but first, I am sure that you are familiar with the life of Uchiha Itachi, correct?" she asked as she looked at him.

"Yeah," he nodded uncertainly as he shot a scathing look at Sasuke who had the temerity to look back unabashed.

"By taking into account all that happened, we have come to the conclusion that the Kyuubi attack could not have been avoided. However, there was one thing which skewed the balance helter-skelter. The Uchiha massacre to be precise. Uchiha Itachi's act of murdering his clan and joining the Akatsuki was the act which caused irreparable damage, and you are here to change that."

"You are talking like that was something which he did on purpose. If you care to remember, it was something he had no choice over, and that was the reason why the shithead behind you went batshit insane," Naruto glowered.

"Well, accidents happen," she spoke delicately while Naruto looked at her extremely crossly.

"And…," he spoke as he looked at her.

"That is why you are in the past. As you can see that is why I have placed you in the body of an Uchiha female. Your task is to get close to Uchiha Itachi and change him so that the massacre doesn't happen, and in turn make sure that he stays in the village and so forth," she went on oblivious to the incredulous look that formed on Naruto's face.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," he snarled while Sasuke snickered.

"I don't know anything about him, and why me, and…oh god, you made me a girl, that means you want me…to…," he began to hyperventilate.

Sasuke finally lost it and began to laugh boisterously which was extremely out of character for him.

"Why me?" Naruto whimpered piteously as he looked at the shinigami.

"Because you are the perfect candidate for the job. Didn't you spend half your life trying to futilely redeem this worthless idiot?" she asked as she pointed towards Sasuke who abruptly shut up and glowered at the woman.

"This way, you can save the entire world and countless other lives. Isn't sacrificing your past life worth it for all this?" she asked gently.

"But, I am a girl," Naruto whimpered.

"Indeed you are. However, there are some big changes in here. Because, I forcibly brought you back, some events are different."

"Different, how?"

"Well, in this world, you are the daughter of Obito Uchiha and Rin Inuzuka, the students of your father, and also you are your own brother," she smiled enigmatically.

"I don't understand," Naruto spoke quietly.

"In this alternate world, Kushina Uzumaki was killed before she met the 4th hokage, because of this you will find that some things have changed. However, Kakashi Hatake, Uchiha Obito and Rin Inuzuka were still your father's students. Here, again Obito gave one of his sharingan to Kakashi becoming the outcaste of the Uchiha clan in the process. Later, he and Rin married each other further aggravating both their clans and a year later you were born. However, six years later, the Kyuubi attacked, and at that time, your new father gave up your new brother, to his teacher to seal the demon in. And of course, both your parents perished and you were left alone to raise your brother, for the last six years. Clear now?"

"Damn it all, but what does that have to do with me taking this role?"

"Danzo. He has wanted your brother very badly. Therefore, he had you or this female you assassinated so that he could kidnap your brother. An Uchiha boy with the Kyuubi sealed inside him is one hell of an enticing target."

"Shit."

"Yes. That is where we step in. You will take the girl's place, and you will receive all her memories, along with the memories of what happened with Itachi and the entire clan from Sasuke so that you can plan accordingly."

"But my skills, my techniques and the summons…," he argued when he was cut off.

"Unfortunately, you cannot be allowed to possess your old techniques, that is why I will be granting you with a different set of skills. You will now become the greatest medic in the world with the aid of the skills which I will endow you with, and yes, it will help you in the long run. Take care of your new brother or in other words that version of you. The Kyuubi is no longer within you, but it is within him, and no one is better equipped than you to help him with that."

"Wait a minute, does this mean we will get the sharingan as well?"

"Yes. However know this. There are very few women in the Uchiha clan who are able to manifest it, unlike most of the men. What is important is that the children born of such women are more powerful than other Uchiha children, this will also help in easing matters with you and Itachi and more importantly his family," at that Naruto grimaced with a shudder. Him giving birth to kids, what a revolting thought, and even more so, because she wanted him to…do it……with Itachi of all people! Like it or not, he still had the mindset of a man although he or rather she was now a woman. What the shinigami didn't tell Naruto was that he would be the only girl with an activated sharingan for the next 25 years.

"Damn, so I guess I am stuck huh?" he sighed. "Can't you reconsider?" he asked as a lost hope which she ignored.

"Very well, take care Naruto, or should I call you Isane from now on. Not many get a second chance to take back what they lost. Use this chance well."

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke up. "I agreed to this, because you are much more capable than I ever was. If anyone can do this and save us all, it is you, please do this for all of us," he spoke and bowed. Naruto nodded stiffly.

Then with a jolt, everything went black again and Naruto lost consciousness.

Isane woke up with a jolt, and a rush of memories flooded her. Memories about her life, about Itachi and what he went through and boy was she stumped. He did all that? Man, he is really one hell of a guy, she muttered.

Meanwhile, she didn't notice a man watching her carefully.

Half an hour later, in the labyrinth underground the village, a man looked at his underling.

"So, the girl survived?"

"Hai, Danzo-sama, but I don't understand, the poison we used was the most potent one in our arsenal, it is not humanly possible to survive, I am most puzzled," the man spoke in a puzzled tone.

"I see. Very well. We will fall back for now. The boy is still young; there is no need to hurry. Keep them under surveillance," he ordered and walked back in.

**Nine Months Later**

8 year old Sasuke Uchiha rushed after his elder brother Itachi to watch him practice with his shuriken. To Sasuke, Itachi was the perfect man, he could do no wrong, and he was the best ninja ever.

Itachi Uchiha, the son of Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha, eldest son of the head of the Uchiha clan, one of the noble clans of the village, heir to the clan, and the newest in the line of legendary prodigies to arise in the village hidden in the leaves. At 15 years old, he was already a two year veteran of the ANBU special ops forces.

As Sasuke watched, Itachi stepped into a circle and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were blazing red with the sharingan eyes. He instantly jumped 15 feet into the air and began to fall inversely and began to rapidly throw shuriken in all directions and once he was done, he threw another batch which hit the previous set which were still traversing in the air and hit them, thus making them move into all directions and they hit all the targets dead in the center, even the one in his blind spot.

Sasuke was thrilled. "Sugoi Aniki, you are so good, you have got to teach me that," he began to instantly plead while Itachi grimaced.

"Maybe some other time, I have a mission to go to," Itachi tried to placate the boy who pouted.

"You always say that, but you never do, watch, I will do it myself," Sasuke pouted and instantly began to sprint with a kunai in his hands.

"Wait Sasuke, don't," Itachi moved forward but he was too late, Sasuke had jumped full tilt into the air, however, unlike Itachi, he lost his footing and fell down, hard.

Instantly, his scream rent the air. Itachi hurried to his brother and shot him a reproaching look as he eyed the injury.

Sasuke's right ankle was broken, and it was rapidly swelling.

"Aniki, it hurts," Sasuke whimpered while Itachi sighed, "Wait here, I will get somebody," he spoke and got up.

Suddenly, there was a sound behind them and Itachi instantly turned with a kunai in his hand.

As he turned, he saw a young girl walk out of the bushes. She was wearing a green colored kimono and was looking around. She was rather plain looking and was dressed simply.

"Oh, so that sound came from here," she muttered as she came towards them. Itachi relaxed his guard when he saw the symbol of the Uchiha clan on her dress.

"You are hurt, well, don't worry, I can take care of this, I am a medic," the girl muttered and sat down next to Sasuke ignoring Itachi completely.

"This is bad, you have broken your ankle completely, the lower tendon has snapped as well," she muttered while Sasuke's eyes went wide in fear.

She raised the sleeves of her coat and instantly her hand was covered in a green light. As the astonished little boy watched, she moved that hand over his injuries, and instantly the swelling on his ankle began to subside. Within few seconds, the swelling was gone completely, and Sasuke was not even sniffling.

She stopped and looked at Sasuke, "You are all right now. Stay here for 5 minutes and you can walk home or run if you want to, and in the future I suggest you listen to your big brother, all right," she spoke with a smile and Sasuke instantly nodded.

She then got up and with a curt nod to Itachi walked away. Itachi was eyeing her calmly.

"Hey, she didn't even tell us her name," Sasuke shouted after a while.

"Yes. I realize that," Itachi replied quietly.

"Well, come on let us go ask her," Sasuke shouted and ran after the path the girl had taken.

"Damn it Sasuke, why do you never listen," Itachi sighed and ran after his brother.

Soon, he raced after his brother and when they reached a clearing, they both stopped. IN the clearing was the girl, and with her was a little boy around Sasuke's age. In front of the two was an injured deer. The animal seemed to be severely hurt, with its entrails falling out on the ground.

As Sasuke stepped forward, Itachi restrained him with a finger on his lips motioning the boy to remain quiet. His gaze lying upon the girl and the boy.

The boy was around Sasuke's age, and he had a very laidback appearance. He had black hair, and was wearing a simple white shirt and green shorts. However, the most prominent thing about him was three whisker marks on each of his cheeks.

Itachi grimaced as he realized who they were.

The Outcastes of the village. He remembered them now. They were the children of his uncle Obito Uchiha and his wife Rin, formerly of the Inuzuka clan. They were considered outcastes because their father had given one of his sharingan eyes to his best friend and teammate Hatake Kakashi during a particularly fateful mission where it seemed like he would not survive. And indeed it had been touch and go. He had lain in a coma for 2 years before he had recovered and afterwards he had married his teammate.

The resulting backlash had almost led to a riot. If not for the fact that their teacher was the 4th hokage, both the couple would have been lynched alive by their clans. However, they were still excommunicated from their respective clans but they had not cared. Afterwards, their daughter had been born in the same year as him, and six years later, in the Kyuubi attack, his uncle had again offered his newborn son to his teacher to seal the demon. Then, he and his wife had perished in the fight, leaving their children to fend off the hatred of the world alone.

If not for the 3rd hokage personally taking charge of them and declaring them under his protection, things would have taken a very grim turn. The only fact and reason why his clan allowed them to live was because they were still Uchiha, although their clan ignored that publicly. And the fact that the Hyuuga had called for the boy's execution too had played a major part in that. His clan loathed being dictated to by the Hyuuga and they would not allow them to harm an Uchiha, even if they were the clan outcastes.

For the last six years, the two had stayed on the very edge of the outskirts of the Uchiha district. The girl had taken care to ensure that she and her brother stayed out of the eyesight of the village.

However, he had not known about her being a medic. His father would need to hear about this.

As he watched, the boy gathered chakra in his arms, until they took the same hue as his sister's had. Then as they watched, he slowly but expertly began to heal the deer. He set the entrails back properly, closed the skin and began to knit it back with his healing chakra. And once that was done, he began to heal the tissue and regenerate the damage.

Itachi was impressed against his will. The boy was doing what many chunin level healers could not do, and for a boy of 7 to 8 years old to accomplish this was nothing short of wondrous.

As they watched, the deer slowly got up and began to canter for a while and afterwards galloped away.

"Let us go Naruto, that was a good job, you are now ready to learn the intermediate level healing techniques. You have cleared the beginning stages successfully," the girl spoke quietly but with pride in her tone, Itachi noticed.

_If that was beginner's level, then what does she consider intermediate level? _Itachi wondered.

As they left, he turned to see Sasuke whose eyes were as wide as saucers.

"How did he do that? He is younger than me!" Sasuke all but screamed.

"Size does not matter in the ninja world, Sasuke. Someday, you might meet someone younger than him who may be stronger than even me," Itachi replied.

"But, he is no ordinary boy," Sasuke spoke with a little jealousy as he pouted.

"That he is not. I would say he is easily stronger than most chunin level healers," Itachi agreed.

"Who are they?" Sasuke asked in wonder.

"They are Uchiha of course," Itachi replied quietly.

"Nani!! Why haven't I heard of them then?" Sasuke asked his brother in shock. At the same time he felt a bit envious. It was universally regarded that Sasuke was the strongest of the Uchiha children of his age, but apparently that was not the case.

"Because," Itachi faltered and then went on, "They are not well liked by the clan, even most of the village. Uncle Obito and Aunt Rin who was an Inuzuka before marriage, they were both excommunicated from their clans. We took them in because they were orphaned in the Kyuubi attack. Keep in mind, Sasuke; it would be wise not to mention that you have met them. Father will be very unhappy if he hears that, even mother for that matter," Itachi warned his brother who gulped.

"What are their names?"

"Isane, Isane and Naruto Uchiha," Itachi spoke quietly as he eyed the figures that were walking away in the distance.

Two days later, Isane was working in the lawn of her home when she stiffened and turned to see Itachi staring at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with her voice becoming guarded.

"I just came to see how you were doing," Itachi spoke quietly.

"Are you joking? It has been nine years since anybody from the clan even looked at us, and I am supposed to believe that you came just to see how I was doing?" she asked with sarcasm.

Itachi frowned at the bitterness of her tone. Suddenly, she stiffened and looked at him, "If you are here to hurt my brother…," she began when Itachi interrupted her.

"You can rest your mind, I have no such intentions," Itachi spoke calmly. Isane glared at him and walked inside and slammed her door shut.

As Itachi turned back, he came face to face with someone he didn't expect.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kakashi Hatake asked in a gruff and frosty tone.

"I was just passing by," Itachi replied nonchalantly.

"Keep it that way, and Itachi, if I were you, I would stay away from this place, they have enough on their plate without you adding more to it," Kakashi glowered at the teen.

"I will keep that in mind," Itachi replied coolly.

"Good, otherwise I might be forced to remind you, and I am sure you wouldn't want that," Kakashi replied frostily.

Itachi just grunted and went on his way, while Kakashi watched him, with distaste clearly showing in his eyes.

That night, Fugaku summoned him to his room.

"Itachi, it has come to my attention that you have met with the two outcastes. Could you elaborate?" he asked

Itachi didn't even bother asking how his father came to know about his encounters. The man wasn't the head of the village military police for nothing.

"It was an accidental encounter," he replied stoically.

"Perhaps, but it seems that they have been hiding a lot, something which you inadvertently had the occasion to notice," his father spoke casually as he poured a cup of tea.

Itachi remained poker-faced.

"Itachi," his father spoke in a warning tone and the teenager clenched his fists.

"They seem to be extremely competent medics, the boy is more capable than most of the chunin level healers in the village, and if my suspicions are correct the girl is at least five times more capable than he is," he spoke softly.

Fugaku looked at his son in astonishment while his son remained steadfast and watched him.

"Are you certain?" he asked quietly.

"She healed a severe injury which Sasuke had sustained and would have rendered him bedridden for at least a month within five seconds, and the boy, he…," Itachi shook his head in silent admiration.

"Itachi, tell me everything," his father spoke softly.

Itachi explained to him how Naruto had healed the deer in vivid detail and even the stoic Fugaku Uchiha could not help but be impressed.

"How, How is this possible? There was nothing to suggest that they had such capabilities," Fugaku muttered quietly.

"With all due respect father, just because they are outcastes doesn't mean they aren't competent. You would do well to remember that they are the children of the only person who successfully managed to actually transplant an active sharingan into a non-Uchiha," he gently reminded his father who scowled at the memory of that incident.

"That reminds me, what was Hatake doing there?" he asked with a frown.

"I was just passing by, but he apparently was under the impression that I was bothering them, and warned me none too gently to not go near them, and advised me to heed his warning carefully."

"He is growing too bold, but then again, they are his godchildren, I suppose I can forgive his transgression for now," Fugaku mused.

"Itachi, the boy, he is younger than Sasuke, correct?" Fugaku asked suddenly.

"Yes, by at least 8 months, I believe," Itachi replied with surprise in his tone.

"8 months, and yet he has surpassed most chunin level healers, hmm, perhaps it is time I took a hand in Sasuke's training," Fugaku mused idly. Itachi bristled at that. Until today, Fugaku had not even cared about Sasuke's training; he was usually content with the knowledge that Sasuke was the best in his age group, and now he was worried about Sasuke's training? It was hypocrisy at the extreme.

**Two Months Later**

Fugaku Uchiha was in his office monitoring the reports of the police force when a clan member barged in.

"Fugaku-sama, emergency, you are required at the clan district!!"

Fugaku stood up, "What is wrong?"

"Itachi-sama has been severely injured in a mission; Shisui-san is also injured greatly. Their ANBU squad has been attacked in a mission, Mikoto-sama has requested your presence immediately," the man spoke rapidly.

Fugaku instantly shunshined to the Uchiha district and raced towards his home. As he neared, he could make out a huge throng of his clansmen outside his home. They all parted when they saw the clan head arrive and he went in.

When he went in, Mikoto rushed near him in tears and hugged him. Fugaku consoled her for a bit and went in. Itachi was unconscious and a couple of the clan's healers were staunching his wounds. Shisui on the other hand was bleeding severely from his left thigh.

**THREE HOURS LATER**

"Prognosis?" he stiffly asked the lead healer who came to see him.

The man stiffened, "Difficult to say. Itachi has been poisoned, with a kind of poison which we have never encountered before. Shisui has suffered a cut in his femoral artery, and although we have staunched the wound, he needs major medication and attention as soon as possible. We may have to move them to the village hospital, we are ill-equipped to deal with these injuries," he ended rapidly.

Frowning, Fugaku paced around the room, out of the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke watching the proceedings with a terrified aye, and as soon as he saw his father looking at him, the boy instantly eeped and ran back to his room. _Ran. _

Instantly Fugaku summoned a person who was standing nearby, "Go and bring the two orphans here, immediately!!" he ordered them. The eyes of everybody went wide.

"The Outcastes? But Fugaku-sama…," the man began to protest when Fugaku silenced him, "Do as you are told. Immediately," he growled.

"Hai," and with that the man raced out.

Within ten minutes, he came back. And to everyone's surprise Isane and Naruto were behind him. Everyone eyed the boy with thinly disguised ire and he slunk behind his sister automatically.

"You summoned, Fugaku-sama?" Isane asked frostily.

"Yes. I have heard that you are a medic of considerable skill. I have need of your expertise. My son and his ANBU team have been injured, and the clan medics have been unable to heal them. Perhaps you could," he paused as he looked at the girl.

Isane nodded. "I see," she paused and then continued, "How many casualties are there?"

"Only two are of major concern, Itachi and Shisui," Fugaku spoke with a frown.

"Very well, please lead me to them," she spoke and Fugaku nodded.

Fugaku led her into the room, and Isane took a look at the two injured men. Naruto too came out and watched them intensely. Isane went and checked Itachi's pulse first and then the same with Shisui.

She turned to Fugaku. "How and when were they attacked? I will need the exact details if I am to heal them."

Fugaku replied tersely, "They were on a mission near Kiri borders, and were attacked by rogue nin, according to the information I have."

"I see, I will attend to Itachi, my brother will attend to Shisui-san," she spoke quickly and nodded to Naruto who nodded in reply and went towards Shisui. The people near the bed looked apprehensive, but with a nod from Fugaku, they acquiesced.

Naruto began to inspect Shisui, and ran a diagnostic technique upon the man.

He then turned to Fugaku, "I can heal him, but before that I must replace the amount of blood he has lost. He needs a blood transfusion immediately. Please arrange for at least 2 liters of his blood, it is of type A group, and I need it within five minutes," he spoke in a very soft tone.

The Uchiha clan medics looked in shock at the boy.

"You can't attempt a blood transfusion here, we don't have the necessary equipment," the head medic protested.

"Then please get it," the boy spoke quietly.

"Do it," Fugaku ordered.

Within five minutes, all the necessary equipment as well as the blood was brought, and Naruto set them up, quickly and efficiently.

He then turned to the head medic whose name was Hideo and spoke, "I will begin to mend the cut on his femoral artery, please begin the transfusion at 5 milliliters," he ordered and began to make some seals. To the astonishment of the adults, his hand was covered in green chakra and he began to remove the bandages around the wound.

As soon as he saw the wound, he instantly used a clotting technique and the bleeding stopped. He carefully began to mend the cut, and then he began to regenerate the tissue around the wound. After healing the cut, he began to heal the damage done to the nerves and veins around the area, and then closed up the wound. He then began to heal the scarred tissue, until just a thin jagged line was all that was left.

When he was done, he stepped back and wiped the sweat off his brows. "There. It is done. He will be all right now. Please tell him not to move around for three days," he spoke and then bowed to Fugaku and went aside to wash his hands.

Fugaku was speechless. Hideo's jaws were open in disbelief. He again looked at his watch. The boy had finished in twenty minutes what they had been trying to do for three hours.

At that moment, Isane came out and beckoned Fugaku.

"Fugaku-sama, we have a problem," she spoke curtly.

"What is it?"

"I have analyzed the wound and have found out the problem. Itachi has been poisoned with a rare poison, the kind which is used by ninja from the Sand village," she spoke stiffly.

"What?" Fugaku asked in shock.

"Are you certain?" he asked immediately after recomposing himself.

"Absolutely. The poison's characteristics indicate that it is the one that is used mostly by the members of the puppet brigade of Sunagakure, however…," she stopped.

"Go on…," Fugaku spoke tersely.

"This particular poison is the kind that is known to be exclusively used by the famous rogue ninja Akasuna no Sasori. It is a nerve coagulant which slowly restricts the blood flow in the body and corrodes the vessels. As of now, the poison has spread completely," she spoke quietly.

Fugaku sighed while Mikoto broke down.

"So, we can't do anything?" he asked with desperation.

"I didn't say that. I can remove the poison. However, the procedure is risky and there is a chance that although his life may be saved, Itachi-san may lose his career as a shinobi. However, that decision is yours to make," she spoke softly.

Fugaku sank down in despair. Mikoto and the other women began to weep silently.

"However, the probability of that happening is around only 30 percent," Isane spoke and Fugaku looked up at her and decided.

"Do it!" he spoke stiffly.

"Very well," Isane nodded.

She turned to Mikoto. "Mikoto-sama, I will need at least three tubs of boiling water, as soon as possible," she spoke and Mikoto nodded and swiftly went inside.

She then handed a piece of paper to Fugaku and spoke, "Please have these herbs brought here immediately, within five minutes," she ordered. Fugaku nodded and handed over the note to Hideo who ran out.

"And finally I will need at least four men to hold Itachi down, this procedure will be painful, and I cannot have him thrash around, he must be restrained," she spoke and went in. Fugaku followed her as did three other members of the military police.

Within five minutes, Mikoto came into the room with another woman behind her and they brought in three tubs of hot water. As soon as the herbs came, Isane ground them into a paste and poured the paste within the three tubs.

She then turned towards Itachi and placed a wad of cotton in his mouth and spoke to the men, "Please hold him down, the moment I begin the procedure, he will try to move. He cannot be allowed to move at any cost," she spoke firmly.

Fugaku and the three men nodded and held Itachi firmly by strapping his arms and legs and holding them down.

Isane nodded and began to draw some seals on Itachi's bare chest and when she was done, she activated her sharingan. Instantly, gasps arose from everyone.

"You…you have…the…sharingan," Mikoto spoke in a stammer while Fugaku looked thunderstruck just like all the others in the room.

"Of course I do. I need it to track the poison as it traverses in his body. These seals will allow me to track the poison in his body via the sharingan," Isane spoke tersely and rolled up her sleeves.

Soon, healing chakra gathered in her right hand and soon it concentrated on the index finger, until it took the shape of a fine needle. Soon, the chakra took the shape of a tube and the other end formed at her left hand. She instantly lowered her left hand in the tub of water. Basically, she had created a tube of chakra with the needle tip in her right hand and was directing it into the tub by her left. Small gasps arose from everyone.

"Hold him down," she warned them again and inserted the needle into Itachi's left ventricle. Instantly, Itachi spasmed and jerked up but was forcibly pushed down by Fugaku and the others. If not for the fact that there was a swab of cotton in his mouth, his screams would have been heard all over.

Isane concentrated and began to flow her chakra through the needle. Her sharingan showed her the poison and the pathways it was traveling in. She slowly began to suction the poison out through the needle.

And soon, in front of everyone, a thin string of black liquid could be seen coming out at the top of the needle and traversing through the tube.

"Is…is that…the poison?" Mikoto asked in a whisper.

Isane did not reply, but concentrated on removing the poison. After 14 minutes, she barked, "Change the tub," and instantly a bystander changed the tub while Isane continued. Itachi on the other hand began to spasm and jerk violently.

After another agonizing fifty minutes, Isane stopped and removed her hands. "It is over, I have removed most of the poison," she spoke and sighs of relief could be heard all over.

"Thank you," Mikoto wept and hugged the girl who looked shocked.

"The danger is not over yet," Isane spoke and everybody stopped.

"We were too late. The poison had too much time to spread and has almost adapted itself into his immune system. Given time, it will regenerate and slow him down. He will slowly begin to lose his health, then his eyesight, and in another fifteen years, he will die. That is the beauty of this poison. Akasuna no Sasori is truly a sadistic bastard," Isane muttered while the room went deathly still.

"But you said…,"Mikoto began when Isane smiled, "I said not over, but that doesn't mean the situation is lost; Fugaku-sama, are you able to use lightning techniques?" she asked immediately.

Fugaku looked surprised but then nodded.

"Good. You see, I can pinpoint where the last vestiges of the poison are located. I will show you the seals for this technique and you will have to perform it on Itachi. I cannot do it since I will be tracking it. With this technique, we can incinerate the last vestiges of the poison in his body; however, if you foil it, Itachi will die right now, in front of us. This is the crux, if you perform this technique successfully, then your son will live a completely healthy life, if you choose not to, he will die in the next fifteen years, and I have told you what will happen if you fail. Are you sure you can handle it?" she asked curtly. Everybody turned to look at Fugaku who looked apprehensive.

Fugaku was in the worst sort of bind. Do the technique currently and his son would live a fully healthy life, if he didn't then he would die in the next fifteen years, and if he attempted and failed, his son would die right now. He looked at Mikoto who looked close to fainting.

After a few seconds, he made his decision. Isane nodded.

"Very well, please copy these seals, and remember to release the electric burst for exactly three seconds, no more no less," she warned him as she showed him the seals. Fugaku activated the technique once to familiarize himself with it and as soon as he got the hang of it, he nodded.

Isane nodded back in reply, and then activated her sharingan and began to track the last elusive vestiges of the poison. With her left hand, she placed her finger on a spot on Itachi's left shoulder and spoke, "The poison will reach here in 20 seconds, release the electric burst when I give the signal, and remember, **for three seconds only**!!" she warned Fugaku who nodded tersely and placed his finger on the spot, with the technique charged up. The next few seconds seemed like eternity to everyone.

"NOW," Isane almost screamed and instantly Fugaku released the electric burst from his finger and into Itachi. Itachi instantly jerked up forcibly breaking the restraints, but Isane forced him down, while Fugaku immediately removed his hand after three seconds. Itachi sank back on the bed unconscious and a little blood came out of the corner of his mouth.

Isane scanned him once and then spoke, "Well done, the poison has been completely incinerated, your son is cured," she spoke with a smile and instantly cheers broke out.

"Where did you learn this technique? I have never seen or heard of it before," Hideo spoke in wonder.

"I know. This technique was invented by my mother. I can safely say that even the legendary Tsunade of the Sannin does not possess a technique this advanced," she spoke quietly. A profound silence reigned all over.

"Nee-san," a small voice came and everybody turned to see Naruto looking at them timidly.

"Naruto, did you heal Shisui-san?" she asked her brother who nodded shyly.

"Hai, there is no problem now, he needs around three days to return to normal," the boy spoke shyly as he ambled towards his sister. The eyes of everyone went bug eyed.

"Well done," she ruffled his hair, "I will teach you another intermediate level technique later as a reward," she smiled at the boy, who shyly stood behind her.

Everybody was stunned. _This is an intermediate level technique for that little boy? Even the head medic of the clan couldn't do what he did! What are these children?_

"Well, Itachi should be fine in another day, he needs a lot of rest, and some liquid food, Fugaku-sama, we will take your leave now, please excuse us," she bowed and left with her brother. Everybody gave her a wide berth and she was stunned to see a few even smile at her.

That night, in the meeting with the clan elders, Fugaku was a very troubled man.

"Fugaku, we are very troubled by the recent developments," the first elder spoke in a raspy tone.

"And it is not about the fact that the young girl and her brother have developed such prodigious skills, but rather we are worried about the repercussions once news of these events gets out," the second elder chimed out.

"But most importantly, we suspect that the village council will try to force those secrets out of the young girl," the third elder finished.

"Adding to the fact is that the younger child is the container of the demon, we already know that Danzo desires the boy, this news will only embolden him in attempting more vigorously," the first elder continued.

"After all, he has already tried to assassinate the girl once, and although it failed, I wonder what he will do now?" the second elder mused.

"What? And why was I not informed of this?" Fugaku growled.

"Although, we admit it is our fault, we were not aware of the girl's abilities and did not consider her worthwhile at that time, however we will ensure that she and her brother come to no harm from now on," the second elder explained quietly. Fugaku frowned at the callous nature of the remark.

"But still, I suspect that the council will summon the girl tomorrow, and force her to reveal her secrets, you must prevent it at all costs," the third elder warned the clan head.

"I think you worry needlessly, the girl is under the protection of Sarutobi and Hatake after all," Fugaku opinioned.

"They are but two men, and the council will definitely want these secrets, the girl is truly a medic who has the potential to surpass Tsunade, and the village council will do anything to get her under their thumb, no doubt that whore Koharu will have something to do with that," the second elder spoke frostily.

"Fugaku, the girl possesses the sharingan, does she not?" the first elder asked the clan head slowly. Fugaku nodded.

"I don't see how that is relevant to our discussion, elder," Fugaku groused.

"The advantage of being old is that we are able to remember many archaic laws which you youngsters have forgotten," the first elder spoke with a small smile.

Seeing the confusion on Fugaku's face, the elder continued, "Among the many archaic rules in the village, I remember the one created by the Shodai Hokage, the one which states that a member of the family of a clan head cannot be interrogated or forced by the village council under any circumstances," he ended with a smile.

Fugaku was stunned, "You can't possibly mean what you mean to say," he spoke in a whisper.

"We were on the lookout for a suitable girl for Itachi to marry, were we not? And clan edicts dictate that a girl with the sharingan shall be the foremost contender to be a bride for the future clan head, and currently she is the only Uchiha female to have activated the sharingan. Your wife is the last female to have activated the sharingan if memory serves me correctly, besides can you honestly say that you can find a better girl?" the elder intoned. Fugaku shook his head.

"But their status in the clan," Fugaku began when the second elder interrupted, "Yes, that is something we must address, mustn't we?"

"Fugaku, just because they are outcastes doesn't mean they are incompetent," at that Fugaku had a sense of dejavu. "You must remember that they are the children of two of the Yondaime's students. Obito, whatever he may be grew up to be one of the best of Konoha, and if his wife were alive, I am sure she would have surpassed Tsunade by now. Clearly, their children have inherited their talent, and besides they are the godchildren of Hatake Kakashi who has been tutoring them, need I say more?" the elder continued.

"Fugaku, the village will try to capitalize on the fact that they are outcastes, I suspect that they will try to ask Inuzuka Tsume to accept them into the Inuzuka clan, after all they belong partly to that clan as well, we suspect it will be an attempt to coax and bribe them, and we at any cost will not allow the members of the Uchiha to debase themselves by sinking to the level of those mutts. As of now, we have already passed orders revoking their status and have reinstated them as Uchiha with full rights as clan members, the edict is being made public to the clan as of now," the third elder spoke clearly.

"Fugaku, tomorrow morning summon the girl and explain everything to her, and impress upon her the need to co-operate, even if she is averse to the idea of marriage, she must at least comply with it in public, if only to save herself and her brother," the first elder finished quietly.

Fugaku nodded, "Very well."

In another part of the village, Danzo was speaking with his underling.

"I see, so what is your evaluation then?" he asked his man who was kneeling in front of him.

"The boy is clearly more talented than most of the chunin level healers in the village. However, his sister was the surprise. If I may be so bold as to say, she is definitely going to surpass Tsunade of the Sannin someday in the medical field," the man spoke dispassionately.

Even Danzo was stunned at that, but the man hid his emotions effortlessly.

"I see, elaborate what you witnessed," he ordered his man.

"Hai, within twenty minutes of inspection she deduced that the poison used on Itachi Uchiha was the type used by the puppet brigade ninjas of Sunagakure," at which Danzo turned sharply, "Sunagakure? But why would…never mind, carry on," he spoke tersely.

"Hai, she further identified that this particular poison was the one usually used by the legendary rogue ninja of Suna, Akasuna no Sasori," at which even Danzo paled.

"Sasori?" he asked in a whisper. "This is troubling news," he spoke haltingly as he pondered over these facts.

"Then?" he asked his man who continued.

"She used a technique created by her late mother, a medical technique so advanced that I have never even seen the likes of before, and after a due process of healing, she cured him completely, I have no doubt that every other healer in the village would have failed in that," he finished.

"I see, and her brother?" he asked quietly.

"In one word, Prodigy. That is all I can say. He cured a severe injury that Shisui Uchiha had sustained to his femoral artery which would have rendered him useless if not treated properly, but he was skilled enough to actually conduct a blood transfusion and heal him at the same time, a feat that only the most highly skilled healers of the village are able to accomplish, and he considers this as just an intermediate level technique," the man shook his head in wonder.

"INTERMEDIATE?" Danzo spoke incredulously.

"Perhaps, I was too hasty. The girl is more useful than I could have possibly imagined. And the boy, I must have him at all costs now, no matter; I shall do that at the council tomorrow."

Suddenly, another member of Root appeared in front of him, and bowed.

"Yes, what is it?" he asked the man.

"The Uchiha clan has passed a edict and has revoked the banishment orders placed on the family of the late Obito Uchiha, and has reinstated Isane and Naruto Uchiha as full members of the Uchiha clan, further there are rumors that the girl has been betrothed to marry Itachi Uchiha," the man finished.

Danzo's eyebrows rose.

"Unusually fast work. I wonder, the reinstatement I can understand, but the betrothal…," he mused and began to run different scenarios trying to fit the reason for this sudden move.

Suddenly, he stopped as realization hit him. He turned to the first member who he had been talking with and asked quickly, "Has the girl activated the sharingan as well?"

"Hai, Danzo-sama," was the reply.

"Of course, clever, very clever, well played Fugaku, very conveniently declaring the girl as your daughter-in-law the day before she is to be summoned by the council, eh? But that is not good enough," he muttered and turned around. He had a plan to make.

Next morning, Fugaku walked towards the council briskly, as Isane and Naruto walked beside him. Isane was understandably quite upset.

"You understand the situation, do you not? This is not just a meeting, you are now getting involved in politics of the highest level, the clan's status now depends upon our performance," he spoke tersely.

"I understand. I may not like it, but I accept it," she spoke quietly.

"It is just as well, Sarutobi and Hatake will not be able to help you here, you will be facing an entire village full of people who would like nothing more than to kill you and your brother, and apart from the Uchiha clan, you have no other supporters, so be careful," Fugaku warned her as they neared the tower.

They entered the tower, and soon they were admitted into the chambers, and they entered the hall, where Fugaku went to take his seat and took Naruto with him, while Isane was left to face the council.

Isane looked up at the council. Homura Mitokado, Utatane Koharu and Danzo, the evil triumvirate her old self growled in remembrance. Only Sarutobi was smiling encouragingly, and Kakashi she was glad to see was standing guard behind Naruto. Apart from the neutral Ino-Shika-Cho triad and the Aburame, the entire council was hostile.

The Hyuuga were fundamentally opposed to her as an Uchiha, so their support was out as well.

"Isane Uchiha, you have been summoned here to answer some queries about your skills, do you understand?" Koharu began in an aggressive tone indicating the nature the discussion was going to take. Isane nodded stiffly.

"Good, please explain what was wrong with Itachi Uchiha and how you managed to treat him? And how your brother has acquired such skills as well," she spoke with a scowl as she looked at Naruto who looked scared.

"Itachi and Shisui had been attacked by Rogue ninja, according to the information that was given to me, and I inspected them. I found out that Itachi had been poisoned by a rare type of poison used by the puppet brigade ninja of Sunagakure," she began when she was interrupted by Hiashi Hyuuga.

"Pardon me, but did you say Sunagakure?"

"Yes,"

"But, why would they attack the Uchiha clan heir, and how can you be sure?" he asked with a frown.

"I am sure because I am a medic and it is my job to know these things, as for the first question you would have to ask the perpetrators, I have no inkling about that, nor is it my concern," she spoke stiffly.

Hiashi frowned but held his peace.

"How did your brother become so skilled? Who has been teaching him?" Homura asked her with an edgy tone.

"I have been training him since he was five years old, and he is very talented, so he is learning well," she replied glaring back.

"But that is the point; I don't recall anybody teaching you, how did you learn these medical techniques?" Koharu asked frostily.

"No one. I learned from the notes of my late mother, all my skills are self-taught," Isane replied stiffly.

"Why have you not applied to work for the village hospital when you have such skills?" Shibi Aburame asked suddenly.

"I did apply, however my application was rejected before it was even considered," she replied testily. The council members exchanged uneasy glances.

"Why?" the Aburame asked quietly.

"Does the village even need a reason to deny me and my brother anything? Isn't the fact that we exist more than enough?" she shot back and Shibi backed off mollified.

"Very well. That was an obvious oversight on the part of the village. You can start working there tomorrow. The council will see to it that you are extended every courtesy," Koharu spoke frostily.

"NO," was the reply.

"What?" Koharu asked in shock.

"I said no. I have no more reason nor desire to work in the village hospital anymore," Isane replied.

"Very well, in that case, you will make a copy of all the medical techniques you know and hand it over to the village," Koharu ordered and there were quite some mutterings at that.

"I refuse," was the stoic reply.

"WHAT?" Koharu and Homura blurted out.

"My techniques are mine and my family's alone. The village has no right to demand them, and even if it does I am well within my rights to refuse," she replied and the mutterings began.

"You will be well compensated," Homura offered.

Isane laughed, "I don't need your money."

"If you do, your banishment and excommunications will be lifted and you will be accepted as members of your mother's clan," Koharu tried to dangle that bit in front of her.

Fugaku spoke up at that moment, "That won't be necessary, the Uchiha clan has already lifted their excommunication and they have been instated as full members of the Uchiha clan with all rights," he smirked.

Koharu gnashed her teeth, "Fine then girl, listen up, I don't like you, I never have, I know that, you know that, the whole village knows that, but you possess techniques which are vital for the village, so I am ordering you to surrender to us your knowledge, am I clear?" she all but shouted.

Sarutobi spoke coldly, "Koharu," but the old woman was by now out of control, "If you don't comply, you will be sent to the interrogation department, and we will get what we want," she ended with a triumphant tone.

"Unfortunately, you can't do that," Fugaku spoke coolly. "She is the betrothed of my son, and as such a member of my personal family and law dictates that a family member of a clan head may not be interrogated or forced under any circumstances, unless you wish to risk civil war of course," he spoke with a twirl of his eyelashes.

Homura and Koharu were shocked and looked at each other in confusion. They hadn't received that bit of information yet, nor did most of the council members as it appeared. Even Sarutobi and Kakashi were dumbfounded at the ingenuity of the plan.

"Fine, you may have escaped girl, but know this, you have a brother, and unless you wish for him to survive, you will tell us what we want to know," she spoke with a smirk.

"And what makes you think you can do that, **bitch**?" Isane asked with a snarl.

Deathly silence prevailed in the chambers.

"What did you say?" Koharu asked in barely restrained fury.

"As I said, what makes you think you can do that, _you old bitch_? In case you have forgotten, by the edicts of the 4th and 3rd hokage's we are directly under the protection of the hokage and the daimyo of the fire country. So unless you want your crotchety ass executed, you can't even touch us," Isane smirked.

Sarutobi, Kakashi, Fugaku and quite a few members of the council were enjoying themselves at the scene transpiring below.

"She is correct. I suggest you watch yourself, Koharu," Sarutobi warned his teammate.

Koharu was apoplectic with rage, "Laws can be changed, as well as Hokage's and daimyo's as well," she spoke savagely and the temperature in the room dropped quite a bit.

_Dangerous words to say, Koharu,_ Danzo mused. It seemed that the old woman's hatred for the Uchiha and the Kyuubi had exacerbated over the years and reached the boiling point.

"So?" Isane asked brashly.

"So, your brother girl, need I say more?" she smirked victoriously.

"I see. In that case, I have something to reveal to this council. This information was given to me by the 4th hokage on the night he sealed the Kyuubi in my brother. Apparently, if my brother dies of any other causes other than natural means, then the Kyuubi will be released. The same holds true if he is put under any duress, and further more, he made it so that even I can release it at a thought, if my brother's life is in danger," she ended quietly.

Everyone went silent. Sarutobi and Kakashi were looking at her in horror. The council members were looking shell shocked.

Koharu turned an ugly shade of puce.

"Are you threatening us?" Homura asked quietly.

"Oh heavens no, I was just suggesting the outcomes of what might happen if anybody here has the same foolish ideas as that old whore," Isane spoke offhandedly.

Sarutobi was looking around with barely concealed illness while Kakashi looked horrified. On the other hand Fugaku was damn proud.

"This is not over girl," Koharu threatened her.

"Oh yes it is, and if you don't like it, then you can shove that stick where the sun doesn't shine. And in your age, let me remind you that anal retractions can be quite painful," she quipped back sharply and snickers broke out in the chambers.

"Enough, this council is adjourned," Sarutobi spoke as he turned to face Koharu with barely restrained fury in his eyes.

That night, Isane had a visitor as she was collecting herbs on the outskirts of the forest.

"What can I do for you, Danzo-san?" she asked frostily.

"Quite a performance you gave today, child, half the council is terrified of you now," he mused idly.

"Rest assured, as long as the village leaves me and my brother alone, I will leave the village alone," she quipped back.

"Yes, I surmised as much, which is the reason why you are still alive," Danzo spoke softly.

"That and the fact that I am at least ten times better than any of your Root operatives, honestly, a poison? I thought your men had more tact," she quipped back.

"Yes, I understand that now, but I am not here to talk pleasantries," Danzo spoke frostily.

"I know. You do not grace civilians with your presence after all, do elaborate," she spoke while folding her arms.

"I want you and your brother to work for me," Danzo spoke bluntly while Isane raised her eyebrows.

"The village will never recognize your talents, but I can and I can offer you much more than the village ever will," he spoke softly.

"No. Not forgetting that uncle Kakashi and Sarutobi-jisan will never allow that, I myself will not allow that, and forget about my brother," she spoke quietly.

"That is disappointing," Danzo spoke softly. He would have to think of another way of convincing her.

"I am however willing to do a trade," Isane spoke softly.

"Oh! I am listening," Danzo spoke as he looked at her shrewdly.

"I will offer you five of my greatest techniques, including the legendary technique created by my mother, which will allow you to effectively transplant an active Byakugan into a non-Hyuuga, I cannot and will not offer you the technique for the sharingan, but I can offer you this," she spoke quietly.

Danzo was stunned; the implications of this were enormous.

"And without the curse seal, you can gain full benefits as well," Isane continued.

"A tempting offer indeed. Name your price," he asked her.

"The heads of Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado, once they are in front of me, you will get them," Isane spoke softly.

Danzo smiled, "Too high a price, little girl, but not quite enough I am afraid," Danzo smirked and turned to leave.

"I have not finished yet," she spoke and Danzo turned around.

"What if I say I can restore your arm and your eye, and restore your body to a hundred percent efficiency and peak physical condition?" she asked quietly.

Instantly Danzo agreed, "Deal. We have an accord. But know this, girl, I levy dire penalties upon people who betray me," he spoke and Isane nodded.

As he was leaving, Isane spoke up, "Oh, and one more thing, in return for this, henceforth you will also leave my brother alone," she spoke testily and after a moment, Danzo nodded.

"Agreed."

**AUTHORS NOTE:**

Preview:

Shisui stopped in shock as he saw Itachi in the bookstore. Itachi never went to bookstores. something was seriously wrong here.

"Hey, Itachi, whatcha doing?" he casually asked and then froze in shock when he saw what Itachi was reading.

Itachi was busy reading a book titled, "The Idiot's Guide on how to become a perfect boyfriend!!"


	2. Deal with a Devil

"So, why exactly have you summoned me here?" Isane asked Danzo who was standing besides her. They were inside the caverns beneath the city, right in the middle of the headquarters of Root.

"You have offered me something, which until now has been deemed impossible, although I know that your mother is the only person known in history to have successfully done what you also claim you are capable of accomplishing; despite that, the matter of fact is that it is a different dojutsu in question we are dealing with. As such, I will need more concrete proof, as this is not the Sharingan we are talking about" Danzo spoke stiffly.

"In other words, you wish to know whether I can deliver what I promised on, before you wish to commit yourself to the bargain," Isane replied quietly.

"Smart girl," Danzo nodded grimly with a wan smile.

"Very well, know this, I will not heal you or hand over the techniques until you fulfill your part, but I am willing to demonstrate for your benefit," Isane spoke grimly.

"Follow me," Danzo spoke and went inside a cavern.

They found themselves in a medical chamber, filled with every kind of medical equipment possible. All of them were the very best of their kind, she smirked, Danzo was trying to impress and show her subtly what she could gain if she joined him. Even the village hospital did not have this level of equipment.

There in front of them, on a stretcher was a shrouded corpse.

"That is the corpse of a Hyuuga branch house member. I wish for you to transplant his eyes into one of my men, as a demonstration of your capabilities, so that I may know for real that you are not trying to deceive me," Danzo spoke curtly as if brooking no argument. The implication was left unsaid. The eyes of the cadaver were sealed by the Hyuuga cursed seal, she would have to break through the curse seal known to be inviolate in the entire shinobi world to prove her worth, in a way this was an even tougher job than transplanting the Sharingan, which her late mother had done. If word of this got out, the Hyuuga would not rest until she was dead.

"How did you manage to gain this corpse? The Hyuuga guard their dead zealously," Isane raised her eyebrows as she looked at Danzo who stood impassively. She was actually impressed at the meticulous approach of the man, which made it all the more imperative that her plan work. Danzo was like the Sword of Damocles personified.

"You have your secrets, allow us ours," was the ambiguous reply. She arched her eyes at that.

"You have chosen a candidate?" she asked stiffly. Danzo nodded and snapped his fingers. Instantly a man appeared, dressed in full ANBU gear, except that his mask was blank.

"Very well, please tell him to remove his mask and lay down on the table, I believe you have a few medics under your command, I will need at least two to assist me, and you may rest in peace, this man's identity will remain secret, the fact that I have agreed to do this is security enough," she spoke quickly before Danzo opened his mouth to protest. Danzo abruptly became silent and nodded.

Five hours later, she stepped back as her work was done. She had successfully transplanted the Byakugan into that man's eyes. She sighed; she had taken a dangerous gamble with this, now she needed it to pay off.

"Please channel chakra into your eyes using these following seals to activate the eyes, I warn you, you will feel some discomfort at first," she warned the man who nodded quietly. Danzo was watching from the side.

The man slowly made the seals, and activated the Byakugan. He gave a small gasp as the telltale sign of veins appearing on the side of his eyes made everything clear.

"It works!! It actually works!! I have the Byakugan!!" the man spoke in wonder as he stood up slowly.

"I hope this satisfies your doubts?" Isane asked Danzo who nodded smugly.

"One more thing, Danzo-san, this is not permanent, they will revert to normal eyes in a month unless I make the transfer permanent," she smirked. Abruptly Danzo whirled and glared at her.

"What?"

"You don't expect me to deliver before the job is done, do you? Trade means give and take. Not just give, once you fulfill my part of the deal, I will make this permanent as well as give you the scrolls and heal you as well," she looked at him haughtily.

Danzo gnashed his teeth. The nerve of this girl, he seethed in his mind, but he steadily calmed himself. He needed her now, more than ever, since he now knew she was not all talk, but once his job was done, he would take great pleasure in breaking her and that miserable brother of hers.

He nodded and walked out briskly.

However, neither of them noticed another person come out of the shadows and disappear. That person wore a black cloak designed with a pattern of red clouds on it, but his most distinctive feature was the orange mask he wore which showed just one eye.

* * *

**A WEEK LATER**

Danzo was contemplating on the events that had transpired the past week. The girl and her skills were absolutely vital to his organization. If she were to join him, the probability of his gaining Hiruzen's seat would increase measurably. But he could not be rash. The girl was now the bride of the Uchiha clan heir and she wielded enormous political clout. This needed to be handled delicately.

But he was now thinking about what was going to happen today. Homura and Koharu were beginning to get problematic, and even Danzo was beginning to get wary of them, especially Koharu who he suspected was bordering on Xenophobia with regards to the Uchiha. Today, he would be holding up his end of the bargain, and he would not even get his hands dirty. There are many ways to skin a cat, after all, he thought smugly.

Soon, in the council, all the members gathered for a special meeting called by the two advisors. Danzo noted that Koharu seemed very pleased, that would change, he smirked knowing what was about to transpire thanks to his contacts.

Sarutobi brought the meeting to order.

"Koharu, please state the reason why the council has been summoned?" he asked his teammate and advisor as she stood up.

"Seeing the disastrous turn of events that took place in the interrogation of the Uchiha girl and that demon container brother of hers, we the councilors have enacted an ancient charter in the village," she spoke with a smug and vindictive tone.

Instantly, Sarutobi and Fugaku stood up straighter and watched her with a gimlet eye.

Koharu continued, "That girl as good as declared that she possesses the ability to release the Kyuubi. As such, we have enacted the Privilege of Konoha Clause," she finished as she shot a nasty look at Sarutobi who had jumped to his feet in horror as had half the council. Danzo remained silent.

The privilege of Konoha was a clause which allowed the council to supersede the hokage and petition the daimyo who was the supreme authority in the nation to directly intervene and to order the execution of an individual deemed as a threat to the entire nation.

"You can't be serious? Are you so warped with your hatred that you would murder a child so willingly?" Sarutobi asked aghast as he looked at his former teammates. He knew that even he could not go against this petition as it was now the prerogative of the Daimyo to decide anything.

"That little bitch should not have been allowed to live in the first place," Koharu snarled. Sarutobi looked deeply hurt at the betrayal by his oldest friend. Fugaku stood up furiously, "My clan will not stand for this, we will protest this petition, if necessary we are ready to face the entire village to protect our own," he snarled implying civil war.

Sarutobi sank down in his seat as he watched everything crumble around him.

Koharu ignored Fugaku and continued, "The girl will be executed, and as for the demon child, he will be imprisoned in perpetual suspended animation for the rest of his life via sealing techniques to ensure that, that worthless wretch will never darken our village again," she finished as she sat down.

"We will not stand for this. We will not allow you to use your laws to enact your petty vengeance on two children, who by all rights are heroes who save this village through their sacrifice," Shikaku Nara stood up angrily, as did his friends Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi.

Homura spoke smugly, "You have no right to protest. This is a privileged petition by law, if you do protest, your clans will be exiled according to the rules, this is now a privileged matter and only the honorable Daimyo shall judge, and his representative is here to deliver his Excellency's verdict." The three men sat down looking murderously at the old man, while there was much muttering in the chambers. Fugaku was almost itching to Gokyakuu (Grand Fireball) the old man's ass to the next century.

A man who had been sitting in the corner watching everything silently until now, stood up. He was Lord Hotohori, the Daimyo's advisor and chief minister of Hi no Kuni.

"You already sent the petition to the Daimyo, without consulting us?" Sarutobi asked the two advisors in anger as he stood up. Many of the council members looked angry at that. It seemed Koharu was determined to get the two children dead at all costs.

Fugaku turned angrily towards the Lord, "Lord Hotohori, I must protest, this is…," he was stopped when the man raised his hands.

"Your internal squabbles are no concern of mine or that of his Excellency, the Lord Daimyo. I am here to announce his decree," the man spoke with finality.

Fugaku fell silent seething with rage. Sarutobi was distraught. If indeed, everything went wrong, he would kill his old teammates, he swore an oath on everything that was holy to him. He owed it to Minato, young Obito and Rin.

"The Lord Daimyo has decreed that…," Lord Hotohori paused for effect as he continued with a thin smile, "Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu's petition is denied on the grounds of insufficient evidence."

"What??" Koharu stood up in shock, as the rest of the council stared glibly as if the matter had not yet sunk in. Fugaku and Sarutobi heaved a sigh of relief.

"But Lord Hotohori, that…girl……threatened to destroy the entire village and Fire Country, she…," Koharu began heatedly when Hotohori raised his hands.

"What evidence do you have to back your claim?"

"She stated it herself, she…," Koharu replied indignantly when the man interrupted her.

"And you believed it, like little children. She stated it, yes, but did you stop to verify whether she possesses the ability to actually back up her claims? Clearly, you believed instantly that a fifteen year old girl could possess that kind of control over a demon when even the honored Yondaime and 3/4ths of our entire nation's populace had to sacrifice their lives just to stop that beast? You must pardon me if I don't find it believable. That girl clearly bluffed to get herself away from your worthless inquisition and you fell for her deception like a child. It seems that perhaps she would make a better advisor than you, and that is something which even the Lord Daimyo concurs upon," he snorted.

Thin smiles appeared on the faces of Sarutobi, Fugaku and many other council members who watched the proceedings with glee. Koharu turned an ugly shade of puce.

Homura tried to lessen the damage, "Very well, Lord Hotohori, the verdict has been given, and we will honor it. The matter is closed," he spoke hurriedly, when the man interrupted again.

"I am not finished," the Lord was clearly angry, "Sarutobi, hear now the decree of the Daimyo. By the order of the Lord Daimyo, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado are to be arrested immediately and executed by noon in the village square for attempted treason and sedition against Hi no Kuni, and their families are to be banished from the Fire nation immediately and ordered never to return on pain of death," he stopped as the chamber erupted in uproar. Fugaku sat down smiling vindictively, while Sarutobi looked shell shocked. Koharu and Homura on the other hand were trembling.

"This can't be, we are loyal servants to the Daimyo, you can't do this to us," Koharu screamed as armed shinobi of the Twelve Ninja Guards, the personal bodyguards of the Daimyo himself entered the chambers and took them into custody.

Sarutobi's mind was reeling with one shock after another. Still, for his old friendship's sake, he turned towards the Lord, "Lord Hotohori, this is too grave a matter, could you perhaps share why the Daimyo decided upon this?" he asked quietly.

"Are you questioning the Daimyo's judgment, Sarutobi?" the man asked coldly and a chill went up the Hokage's spine.

"Still, you are the Hokage and you deserve to know. 4 days ago, a copy of the official video recordings of the inquisition of the two children was sent to the Daimyo, anonymously. Naturally, the Twelve Ninja Guards investigated on their own, and it was found that it was authentic, and some very incriminating evidence was found, and therefore the Daimyo felt the need to intervene," Hotohori spoke stiffly.

"Incriminating evidence, my Lord?" Fugaku spoke in surprise as the council members looked at him in curiosity.

At which, the Lord signaled one of his men, who went and placed the video in a player and played out the recording.

As they all watched, the interrogation of Isane was shown, however at a point, Hotohori paused it and replied, "This is what caused the Daimyo to take this decision," he spoke as everybody turned to watch and the playing of the video resumed.

**THE RECORDING**

_"Fine, you may have escaped girl, but know this, you have a brother, and unless you wish for him to survive, you will tell us what we want to know,__" Koharu spoke with a smirk._

_"__And what makes you think you can do that, bitch?__" Isane asked with a snarl._

_Deathly silence prevailed in the chambers._

_"__What did you say?__" Koharu asked in barely restrained fury._

_"__As I said, what makes you think you can do that, you old bitch? In case you have forgotten, by the edicts of the 4th and 3rd Hokage's we are directly under the protection of the hokage and the Daimyo of the fire country. So unless you want your crotchety ass executed, you can't even touch us,__" Isane smirked._

_"__She is correct. I suggest you watch yourself, Koharu,__" Sarutobi warned his teammate._

_Koharu was apoplectic with rage, __"Laws can be changed, as well as Hokage's and Daimyo's as well,__" she spoke savagely……_

At that point, Lord Hotohori paused the recording as Sarutobi paled. Koharu and Homura were sweating. The council was remarkably silent.

"Your advisors stated that they would attempt to even depose the Daimyo in order to gain what they want, such gross treason cannot be left unpunished, whether they intended to do it or not is not the matter of concern here, the fact that they were willing to contemplate it is in itself enough evidence to warrant this punishment, and the fact that they stated it in public sealed their fate. In their zeal, these two seem to have forgotten that the Daimyo himself guaranteed the safety of those two children to the Yondaime on that night, and these two idiots still had the audacity to petition the Daimyo to execute them," the man spoke in amusement and incredulity as he once again steeled his tone and hardened his eyes, "If you try to interfere, the Daimyo will order your deposition and the closure of Konoha itself," the man spoke harshly.

Sarutobi nodded resignedly. _I am sorry my old friends, you have brought this upon yourselves._

"It was her, it was that Uchiha bitch… she sent it to you, I should have killed her myself…listen to me, if any of you value your lives…kill those two before everything you know is destroyed," Koharu began to rant and rave as she began to laugh hysterically. A member of the twelve guards knocked her out and took her away as Homura followed resignedly.

Sarutobi sank in his chair as the council members began to speak in whispers, when Lord Hotohori spoke again, "I hope for your sake Sarutobi, that such foolishness is not attempted again. His Excellency will not be pleased, now if you will excuse me, I have an execution to conduct," the man spoke as he left the chamber.

However, nobody noticed the exchange of looks between him and Danzo as he left. Danzo twirled his cane as he thought; I love it when a plan comes together.

Soon, half an hour later, a member of Root came to Isane's house and delivered a note to her.

_I have kept my end of the bargain. If you come to the village square at noon, you shall see for yourself. Please prepare for your end of the deal. I hope it will be a mutually beneficial transaction._

_Danzo._

As she read the note, Isane crumpled it and sighed. She did not need the note, she knew what was going to happen, her Shadow clone had spied on the proceedings all along, although it had been quite a taxing effort. However, the first phase of her plan was over and she now needed to prepare for the second. She did not trust Danzo at all, but if Danzo trusted her to hold up her end of the bargain, he was sorely mistaken. He did not hold a monopoly on deceit after all.

As he eyed her from the corner where he was hidden, Madara Uchiha smirked.

_This girl will do perfectly, Itachi is a distant second compared to her. If you succeed in handling Danzo, little girl, I shall reveal myself to you, you are too interesting to be left alone._

* * *

Meanwhile, in the market square, Itachi Uchiha was standing outside the book store contemplating on whether to enter the building or not.

The reason for that was the disastrous attempt he had made in trying to get his future wife to go out with him. His father had told him, that the betrothal could be called off anytime, but if that were to happen, the elders and he himself would be very displeased. The implications were crystal clear. Get her to accept you or else……

He winced as he remembered what had happened.

"What are you doing at my house?" Isane asked Itachi who was at her door holding in his hands very strangely for him, a bouquet of flowers.

"I am here to thank you for saving my life as well as that of my companions'," Itachi spoke formally.

Isane replied grudgingly, "This is not necessary, I would have done it regardless of whoever it may have been," she spoke as she made to close the door when he interrupted her.

Itachi was in a quandary. Usually, females of her age were prone to idolizing him and doing anything he requested, should he stoop that low, but this one…she was…

"Yes, what is it?" she asked quickly as if she were bored.

"You are aware of course that we are engaged to be married?" he asked quietly.

She snarled, "It was a political move aimed at countering the people who wished to harm this clan, it has nothing to do with us, as soon as this charade is over, this pretense will stop, I have no desire to marry, especially not someone like you," she had ended viciously.

Itachi was visibly shocked. He, the most eligible bachelor of the village had been rejected by the pariah of the village. It was…he didn't know what to think.

"Still, that pretense must be maintained, for that sake, I request you to accompany me into the village, for dinner?" he asked quietly. He could be persistent too.

"Unfortunately, that will not work as you are not capable of doing something like that properly," she had quipped back.

"I beg your pardon!! What do you mean?" Itachi had never shown this much emotion in his life.

"YOU!!" she had pointed out vehemently. "You are what I mean!! I mean, look at you!! You have no personality, no life of your own!! All you do is what your father or your elders or your shinobi superiors tell you to do!! You can't even decide for your own!! You are here asking me out because you were told to do so, don't deny it!! Going out with you will be like going out with a corpse!! Come back when you learn how an actual boyfriend is supposed to be like, and when you get a life of your own!!" she had snarled and closed the door, and for the first time, Itachi Uchiha learnt what it meant to fail in something.

When his mother had noted his downcast expression, she had inquired as to what had happened and when she he had learnt of what had transpired, she had laughed for an hour.

All she would tell him was, "You have finally met your match!! If you wish to succeed I suggest you act upon her advice," she had smirked as she left.

That is why, he was now in front of the book-store, it was the logical place to find all sorts of information, the young shinobi thought, contemplating whether to enter the store or not. But then the visage of that angry girl came in front of him, and with a determined look, he entered the store.

Shisui Uchiha was wandering around whistling a jaunty tune when he saw something. At first, he thought it was a genjutsu and muttered the release seal, but when he realized it was real, he was shocked.

Itachi Uchiha was in the bookstore. Itachi, perfect Itachi, who had never had the need to set foot in that place before. This needed to be investigated. He decided upon the direct approach.

"Hey, Itachi, whatcha doing?" he casually asked and then froze in shock when he saw what Itachi was reading.

Itachi was busy reading a book titled, "The Idiot's Guide on how to become a perfect Boyfriend!!"

Shisui did not know whether to laugh or cry. Before Itachi could reply however, a huge commotion outside drew their attention. They both rushed outside to see the two advisors of the Hokage, being dragged on the road, dressed as prisoners, by surprisingly, the soldiers of the Imperial army of the Daimyo of the Fire country. At that moment, a military police member appeared next to them, "Itachi-sama, Fugaku-dono requests your presence immediately!!"

With a glance at each other, Itachi and Shisui raced home. They would get their answers there.


	3. Desire

For the entire last month, Isane's life had been on a rollercoaster drive of anxiety and stress. What really was wrong was that, although she was now female, she still held on to the stubborn male mentality that she had possessed as Naruto Uzumaki in her previous birth. This curious case of……_reincarnation,_ if it could be called that, had skewed her life horribly. And being placed in the position of a female in a traditionalist clan compounded those problems greatly for her, as she was now expected to uphold those traditions.

She had had a long talk with the shinigami before coming here and the shinigami had warned her of the problems she would face. While it was acceptable that she would retain a semblance of her past life and its memories, as mandated so that she could manipulate the events in this time and dimension, it came at the cost of destruction of her personal life.

She had been granted powers, unique powers from the Sharingan bloodline, comparable to Madara himself, and that scared her. Added to the fact was that, being a girl from a famed ninja clan, and a supremely talented one at that, it was impossible to avoid overtures by males who would seek her hand in marriage. And that was the crux of the problem. She still had vestiges of the personality of Naruto Uzumaki in her mind, and he was a staunch heterosexual being and she had retained that mindset. But she was now female, and as such she realized that, but with her retaining the sexual orientation of Naruto Uzumaki from his previous life, any romantic feelings towards a male would look homosexual in nature and that was violently abhorrent to Naruto Uzumaki in his previous life. This had carried on to her new life as Isane, and therefore she knew that she could never look at a man in a romantic nature and she realized that. But she could not just repudiate the advances of males who sought her hand, especially when one of them happened to be the son of the clan head. As such, dealing with this problem was giving her a headache.

She had stubbornly negotiated an agreement with Fugaku and the clan elders with the effect that once the threat to the clan from Homura and Koharu was over; her engagement with Itachi was to be publicly dissolved. She knew that Fugaku would do everything in his power to try and prevent it, partly because he wanted Itachi to marry her. Not because he cared for her in the way Kakashi, Jiraiya and Sarutobi did, but because of obligations, and the fact that he just wanted the best for his son. As such she knew that the meeting with Fugaku she was about to have would be a very tense one.

Her brother. That was another unique aspect of this life. Naruto Uzumaki had never had a sibling, and she strangely relished in the fact that she had a sibling to care for, one who would stay on her side no matter what. The fact that the child had to live the life that she had lived once was painful, but she had resolved to aid the child in any way possible. The child doted on her, and clearly loved her more than life, and she could see that. The fact that he and she shared the same name, transcending all time and dimension was an irony in itself, and she relished that. It helped her to remember her origin and roots, and she needed that or she would run the risk of losing her sanity. Currently, the boy was with Kakashi while she left to meet with Fugaku at his house.

As she reached the house of the clan head, Sasuke who was on the porch saw her and his face lit up in a brilliant smile. "Isane-nee, you are here to see Nii-san?" he asked hopefully. The little boy had been very happy to learn that the young healer was going to marry his brother. He idolized her and she held an honored place in his heart next to his elder brother only.

"Not really Sasuke-kun, I am here to see your father," she spoke as the boy pouted.

"Hey, where is Naruto?" Sasuke asked looking around. Ever since Isane had healed him, he had taken to hanging around her home and playing with her brother. Naruto was a shy boy, and she knew that it was hard for him to socialize as she and her previous self had brought him up in a sequestered way, but Sasuke had stubbornly broken through and befriended the boy claiming that family ought to stick together. Apparently, the boy was still under the impression that she would be marrying his brother. She hated to think what the boy would look like after the news was broken to him.

********************************************************************************************************************

**AMEGAKURE**

"Pein, I see you are doing well," Madara spoke softly as he entered the chambers of the self proclaimed god of Amegakure. Pein was his protégé, the man that he had raised and created from the incomplete shell which that idiot Jiraiya had foolishly thrown away.

He had brought the broken Nagato and Konan together, succored them, and made them into what they were today. And once they were ready, he had unleashed them in the form of the leaders of Akatsuki. And they had proven their worth in spades. Pein had single handedly taken down Salamander Hanzo, the man whom even the Densetsu no Sannin had not been able to defeat even when they were at their prime and were still together. However, Nagato was not the complete drone that Madara intended him to be. The boy clung to the ideals of his dead comrade and stubbornly held on to them. That was the downside, Madara admitted, sometimes, your weapon becomes too dangerous even for you to wield, the ancient shinobi mused.

"Indeed, and what of your mission? Did it go well?" Pein, or rather the Deva Path, which was the chosen medium for Nagato to communicate, asked. Madara who was used to the unique method of communication shrugged indifferently.

"It was rather enlightening," the ancient Uchiha replied softly.

"So, the Uchiha boy survived then?" Konan asked curiously, mainly because surviving from one of Sasori's poisons was almost equal to cheating death itself. Even Orochimaru had been unable to devise antidotes for his poisons, and that was saying something.

"Indeed, he is as hale and hearty as any," Madara replied.

"I see. So, even Sasori's famed poison failed against the Uchiha prodigy. It seems you were right, he does possess potential. I shall direct Kisame to deliver a recruitment missive, or do you wish to handle this personally?" Pein asked quietly.

"No," Madara replied after a while, "Ignore it, he has potential yes, but I have discovered one whose potential surpasses even Itachi's," Madara finished as he looked at the sky. For some strange reason, the man looked wistful.

"Do elaborate, I find myself……intrigued," Pein spoke while Konan eyed the former Uchiha clan head curiously.

"Itachi Uchiha survived yes, but not because of his own skill, but because of somebody else's efforts," Madara replied.

"So, I take it that you have found someone in the Uchiha clan whose skills surpass Itachi's then?" Pein asked as Madara nodded in reply.

"Who?" Konan asked curiously.

"A girl, one who completely cured Itachi, so efficiently that one could assume as if Sasori fed him water instead of poison," Madara spoke with a tinge of sarcasm at the end.

"A girl, you say? Interesting," Pein replied as he considered the ramifications. A girl who could match Sasori in skill was not to be underestimated.

"Pein, that girl is not to be underestimated at any costs, her skills in healing surpass Tsunade's," Madara spoke quietly and for the first time, the two leaders of Akatsuki were forced to become silent with shock.

"That is rather a lofty claim to make, but since it is you, I shall not dispute it," Pein admitted after a while. A girl who could surpass Tsunade was not to be dismissed at any cost.

"Still, her skills in healing alone cannot be the reason you have taken an interest in her, is there something else that you are not telling us?" Konan asked after a while.

"Things are surprisingly looking up for the Uchiha clan in the village of Konoha," Madara admitted and the two leaders looked at him with concealed ire for the manner in which the man brushed away their question.

"For years, I have engendered a sense of strife in the village, which was exacerbated by my attack on Konoha seven years ago, and as you all know, the Senju influenced councilors of the village began to impose draconian restrictions on the Uchiha clan, and I knew that it would not take long for the Uchiha to plan a revolt," Madara admitted quietly.

"Yes, and you have stated that they are in the process of beginning it," Pein admitted quietly wondering where this was leading to.

"Yes, and with it I was sure that the Uchiha would be wiped out, a fitting punishment for their treachery against me, but all that has been ruined by this girl," Madara spoke with a twinge of annoyance.

Now this was interesting, Konan admitted to herself. She had never seen Madara so flustered, it was amusing in a way.

"What exactly has transpired Madara?" Pein asked quietly.

"Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado have been executed for treason against the daimyo of fire country, and with their death, the Uchiha clan's staunchest enemies have been eradicated in the political arena of Konoha, and thus hindering my plans for their demise," Madara admitted softly.

"And this girl was responsible for all this?" Konan asked in a soft tone being careful to avoid further aggravating the man.

"Interesting," Pein admitted, "She is definitely worth taking a look into then," the Rinnegan wielder spoke softly.

"Pein," Madara spoke suddenly, "Is it possible for you to construct your weapon with just the power of eight of the nine tailed beasts?" the founder of Akatsuki asked as he eyed his protégé.

If Pein and Konan were surprised by the question, they did not show it.

"It might be possible, but I will have to recalculate the matrix and the composition of the Gedo Mazo to see if it is possible with just eight instead of nine," the man admitted.

"Do so," Madara ordered and Pein raised his eyebrows at that.

"May I know the reason as to why," Pein asked quietly.

"It appears that the sealing of the Kyuubi cannot be broken even by my powers or that of the Rinnegan. Powerful we may be, but the demon has been sealed away by the shinigami itself, _by a genuine God_, and I would rather not pit our powers against the power of a God; as powerful as we are, we are but specks of dust against the might of a true deity," Madara spoke quietly and Pein nodded.

"I see," the man replied, "Perhaps, there is justice in what you say, I shall conduct the tests immediately," the self proclaimed God agreed.

"But that will leave one of the jinchuuriki out of our control," Konan replied instantly, "That goes contrary to all our plans," the woman pointed out.

"Not exactly, there was a reason why I asked you, and why this girl has proven to be so interesting," Madara replied with a soft smile.

"Oh?" Konan asked in surprise, "What is it?" she asked in curiosity.

"This girl happens to be the elder sister of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and where she goes, the jinchuuriki goes, and if she joins us…," the man spoke as realization dawned on the other two.

"I see, but still, her healing skills alone will not be enough to gain her entry into the Akatsuki, even if she is the world's foremost healer. The Akatsuki cannot lower its standards, you yourself have abundantly made it clear," Pein pointed out.

"And so it will be," Madara replied, "But you worry unduly Pein, I believe that girl is withholding a lot, and I intend to test her, personally," Madara replied as he turned to leave.

"I sure hope she makes the cut, the Akatsuki could use another female, it is becoming cumbersome with all the overflowing testosterone and egos," Konan grumbled while Madara smirked at hearing her words before vanishing.

As he entered his chambers, Madara was pondering upon his next course of action. He had not told Konan and Pein the true reasoning behind his actions, because he wished them to be private. The reason why this girl's presence had affected him so strongly was because she bore a strong resemblance to his late wife. His wife had been killed by Hashirama during the time of the clan wars, and that above all had been the chief cause for his undying hatred against that man and his legacy. He brought out a locket which he kept in the drawer of his desk and opened the pendant. Both sides had a portrait within, that of him and his wife. There was no mistaking it, he realized as he eyed the portraits, Uchiha Isane held an extremely strong resemblance to his dead wife; he could almost believe that she was the reincarnation of his beloved Ayane if he did not know better.

Her resemblance to his late wife alone was not the only thing that bothered him. Her behavior, her mannerisms, and everything about her forcibly reminded him of his wife. He had observed her, dealing with the corrupt council of Konoha in a forcible manner, her cunningness and guile with which she had suborned Danzo, a feat which even Sarutobi had been unable to accomplish. Not since the death of his wife, had such a woman with such a fiery spirit been born in the Uchiha clan. As he placed the locket back in his desk, he came to a decision. _Uchiha Itachi definitely did not deserve a girl of that caliber_. He would claim her, bring her with him, and then eradicate the Uchiha clan and recreate it in the true image it once was, _with his wife once more behind him_. And if he had to give up the Kyuubi to do so, then it was a price he was willing to pay. With a swirl, he vanished from his lair.

********************************************************************************************************************

**KONOHA, FUGAKU UCHIHA'S HOME, 2 Hours Later**

Fugaku Uchiha was in a very irate mood, and his family members wisely refrained from provoking his ire further as they eyed the fuming Uchiha clan head. Mikoto actually sighed with relief when everybody went to their rooms to sleep and the dinner ended without any untoward incident.

In their bedroom as they were going to sleep, Mikoto accosted her husband, "What is wrong? Why are you in such a bad mood? You almost scared Sasuke to death," she chided her husband as she looked at him with an admonishing glare.

Fugaku grumbled, "That girl…refused to…marry Itachi," the man admitted as he frowned.

Mikoto sighed, "Is that all?" she asked as she looked at her husband wanly.

"What the hell do you mean by 'is that all'? She rejected Itachi!! The son of the clan head!! Do you know what will happen to our reputation if everybody learns of it? The most eligible bachelor in the village turned down by a person considered as an outcast by at least half the village, it is an incomprehensible insult," the man almost shouted as his wife placed her arms on his shoulders forcing him to calm down.

"We agreed to the betrothal with the knowledge that it would be dissolved the moment the threat to the clan by those two councilors ended, and the elders ratified that agreement as well. Now that is has been done, the elders have upheld their part of the bargain, why are you so upset?" she asked her husband who glowered angrily.

"That is not the point," the chief of the military police protested, "After that, I once again proposed the marriage to her, but she flat-out refused it!! Refused!! I don't get it!! It is a great honor, she would have gained enormous respect and prestige within the village as the wife of the next head of the Uchiha clan, wealth, fame and prosperity, all for her taking and she refuses it! Any other girl in the village would kill for such a chance, but she refused. What kind of a girl is she?" the man asked in frustration as he ran his hand through his hair.

"A very sane and sensible girl," his wife replied calmly as he looked at her incredulously with his eyes wide in disbelief.

Mikoto sighed, "You men, you always eye everything with a materialistic eye. She doesn't care about wealth, fame, power or prestige like others, Fugaku. She has spent almost all her life as an outcast. As a reject. Of course she will react to such overtures negatively. She has no reason to trust any of us. Besides, she feels as if she is being forced into this because of her skills, and that we are doing this partly out of pity and charity, while the elders view her as almost a commodity. One that has been selectively chosen from others. And no girl will stand for that, of course she refused!! What did you expect?"

Fugaku gaped at his wife, "I have never ever treated her in that manner…she…," the man began when his wife interrupted him again.

"I know you haven't, but that is what she believes, and as long as she believes that, she will never agree to marry Itachi," Mikoto spoke softly.

"So, what should we do then?" Fugaku asked his wife as she looked pensive.

"I will talk to the girl myself tomorrow, and if it still proves inconclusive, then I am afraid it is up to Itachi to convince her of his true intentions, and I honestly don't believe that Itachi can pull it off," she admitted slowly.

"What? Itachi has never failed……," Fugaku began when his wife angrily interrupted him, "That is the problem with you men, life is not a ninja mission Fugaku," she snapped angrily and the man conceded the point grudgingly.

"Let us see what happens tomorrow, sleep now," she spoke soothingly and soon the couple fell asleep.

Outside his parent's room, Itachi quietly walked back to his room pondering upon what he had heard. He had not meant to eavesdrop, but he could not help but intervene when he heard _her_ name.

********************************************************************************************************************

**MEANWHILE, Near Isane's Home,**

As she was walking back to her home, near the borders of the forest on the edge of the Uchiha clan district, Isane stiffened as she sensed a presence nearby saturating the air with chakra. Suddenly, with a swirl of chakra, Madara Uchiha appeared in front of the girl, who backed up, clearly afraid.

Isane backed up as she saw him of all people appear in front of her with his Akatsuki cloak billowing in the wind as he gazed at her and slowly removed his mask. Isane was terrified, not because of his presence, but because of the look in his eyes. _The mad look of desire and longing in his eyes, _as he gazed at her, and for the first time ever, she felt scared for her personal safety.


	4. Politics

As she eyed the man in front of her, Isane was truly terrified. A myriad of thoughts were running rampant in her mind.

_What was he doing here?_

_What was his purpose in revealing himself to her?_

_Why was he silent and staring at her as if he was appraising her?_

As these thoughts ran through her mind, she did not notice Madara moving towards her slowly. She involuntarily took a step back and tried to gain a hold on her thoughts. As soon as she gained some semblance of control over her thoughts, she saw that Madara was approaching her, and she realized that she had no alternative but to recourse to _that. _

Instantly, her eyes morphed to reveal the Sharingan, and then they morphed into the Mangekyo Sharingan, to the immense shock of the man standing in front of her.

Before he could recover from his shock, she uttered one word, "Kamui" and instantly a swirling vortex of wind surrounded her and then, she vanished, leaving Madara Uchiha alone in the woods.

* * *

As he eyed the girl in front of him, Madara could clearly see the resemblance she bore with his late wife.

He noticed a myriad of emotions running rampant in the girl's mind, evident by the distress on her face and he was curious as to why she was so shaken.

But as he saw her face, he realized instantly why the girl was so distressed and was looking terrified at his presence.

_She knew who he was and had recognized him._

It fascinated the man; because as far as he knew, apart from Pein, Konan and Zetsu, his three most trusted confidants, no one in the world knew of his continued existence. To learn that this young girl knew who he was clearly fascinated him.

He took a step forward intending to approach the girl, when she reacted.

As he watched, the girl's eyes morphed into the Sharingan and into the three tomoe'd stage as well. He was impressed, for a girl of her age to have achieved such a level of maturity in her bloodline was remarkable.

Then, to his utter shock, her eyes mutated further into the Mangekyo Sharingan. He was literally stunned into silence. As he watched in awe, the young girl clearly manifested the Mangekyo Sharingan, and then uttering a word that he had not been able to hear, had disappeared, literally.

It was a technique of transportation, he recognized instantly, but its nature eluded him. It was similar to his space/time techniques but yet dissimilar. At first, he was shocked to learn that the girl possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, and then he was even more surprised when she disappeared in front of him into thin air.

Afterwards, as he walked over to the place where she stood, he was elated. There was no doubt now in his mind that he had made the perfect choice. This girl personified everything that he needed in a partner.

Yet, this revelation had also brought more questions. As far as he knew, the only way to activate the Mangekyo Sharingan was to kill one's closest friend, thereby allowing the subsequent guilt to mutate the eyes. But he knew for a fact, that the girl had no friends, and did not associate with anyone. How then, did she achieve the pinnacle of their bloodline?

It made for a rather puzzling riddle. He knew that the girl was a medic of world class proportions, of that there was no doubt. Had she perhaps invented a technique, which could bypass all the requirements for achieving the Mangekyo and activate it directly without having to pay the fearful costs it otherwise required? If so, her knowledge and skills would be invaluable. If that was the case, she might be able to even restore his eternal Mangekyo Sharingan back to its true potential!!

Added to that was the fact that she appeared to be proficient in the usage of the Mangekyo. Her transportation technique was similar to his own, and did not even leave a trace. Even he, Madara Uchiha, could not trace her, and that was a worthy accomplishment in his eyes, for it was something which even the invincible Pein of the Rinnegan had failed to accomplish.

But the greatest question was how had she recognized him for who he was? Unfortunately, he had no answer for that, yet.

As he stood in the clearing, with the winds billowing in his cloak, he smiled grimly.

"What other secrets do you hold, my little humming bird?" he spoke in a whisper as he picked up a leaf.

At any rate, it was clear that Isane Uchiha was more than what she appeared to be, and he for one could not wait to unravel her secrets. _After all, it wouldn't do for a wife to keep secrets from her husband, would it?_ He was now determined, the girl would be his, at any cost.

* * *

As she appeared inside the sanctity of her home, Isane was close to having a nervous breakdown.

She knew that she had taken a dangerous gamble by revealing her Mangekyo Sharingan to Madara, but she had been left with no alternative. Her powers had not matured yet, and she still had not achieved the level of proficiency required with her Mangekyo Sharingan to actually stand toe to toe with Madara Uchiha of all people.

What was bothering her was the fact that Madara had been tailing her of all people, but why? As she sat at the dining table, drinking a cup of tea, she tried to think of a possible reason.

Soon, she began to run various scenarios in her mind, in order to determine a reason, and as time passed, she arrived at a conclusion.

She began comparing facts, with the knowledge she had from the past and comparing it with the timeline present now.

It was around this time, that the Uchiha clan had begun to plot rebellion in her home world, forced by the draconian Xenophobia of the Councilors who had spared no expense in trying to curtail the clan.

But here, because of her effort, that was not the case, instead the two elders had been disposed off, obviating the need for rebellion by the clan in the first place.

It was around this time, that the village had forced Itachi to spy on his own clan forcing him to be a traitor to his own clan in her world, but here, again that was not to be.

Again, because of Itachi's vulnerability in this matter, Madara had approached him, and suborned his loyalty towards him. But here, again that was not the case.

Suddenly, she jerked upright, her heart beating wildly. _Mother of God, that's it!! He wants to recruit me instead of Itachi!! Uchiha freaking Madara wants me to join Akatsuki!!_

As she came to terms with her conclusion, she rapidly began to analyze the reasons as to why the man would want her instead of Itachi.

Suddenly, she slapped her forehead in irritation, _of course, that attack by Sasori on Itachi and his team was an evaluation test, and I cured him of the poisons used by Sasori. Akatsuki, would by principle be interested in the person who could cure the poisons created by the world's premier poison master and one of their more prominent members_.

And to add to that matter, she was the sister of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, their prime target. And now, Madara Uchiha knew that she possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan. From now on, he would not rest until he gained his hands on her.

_But he knows that even if he kidnaps me, I will not join him willingly, so why would he…_she began to think furiously when the answer came to her.

_He will offer to leave Naruto out of his clutches to gain my services; he will allow Naruto to live and exclude him from his Jinchuuriki hunting spree, but that doesn't make sense, Madara never gives up anything, unless he has something even more important to gain, but what is it? What is so important to him that is in my possession that he is willing to sacrifice the Kyuubi of all things? If I get the answer to that, I can move accordingly, but until then, I must be careful, he will now place me under complete surveillance, perhaps, he might even send Zetsu, I must be careful._

With those thoughts, she went to bed, not realizing how close she had come to getting her answer, and she would have, had she remembered the look in his eyes, but it was not to be, not yet.

* * *

The next morning, Fugaku Uchiha was surprised to receive a message indicating that the Hokage had called for a full council meeting. Perplexed, the Uchiha clan head ran various scenarios in his head, trying to determine the reason for the said summons, but he could not come up with anything.

Soon, in the Hokage tower, a full meeting of the council was held. Glaringly obvious were the two vacant seats, held by the late advisors, Homura and Koharu.

As he witnessed the members, Sarutobi began, "I will be brief. You have all witnessed what has happened in the last week. Recently, I have received a message from the Daimyo, stating that the position of the two advisors must be filled within the next month," the hokage spoke and many clan heads sat up straighter, suddenly very interested to hear what would come next.

"However, apart from that matter, there is something more that I have to tell you. In accordance with the Daimyo's orders and my own suggestions, one of the positions of the two advisors will henceforth be held by the commander of the ANBU. This will be in perpetuity, henceforth, one position will always be held by the ANBU commander's and this is not negotiable, and unchangeable as per the decree of the daimyo himself," the Hokage announced and many clan heads looked pensive at that. However, none protested. Recent events had made it clear to them, that their status did not grant them clemency from everything. The deaths of Homura and Koharu and the subsequent disgrace of their families had made it clear to all of them.

"Continuing on, as per the daimyo's decree, henceforth, one position of the advisor will be up for grabs. All clans are allowed to nominate an elder from their clan, one who has rendered invaluable service to Konoha in the past, and is of character beyond reproach. All clans are allowed to field one candidate only; the criteria for selection will be thus, apart from possessing all requirements, on the day of election the candidate must place in front of the council, a tithe, and one which must prove to be beneficial to the entire village. It can be a technique, or any other thing that can benefit the village on whole. Monetary tithes will not be accepted and will be considered as grounds for disqualification. The one which will be judged by the Daimyo's representative as the best will be elected, and once elected that person will hold the post of chief advisor to the hokage for five years, after which their term will expire, and re-elections will be held to fill that place, unless the selected candidate expires in term, at which point also, re-elections will take place with the same terms in effect," the Hokage finished as the eyes of many clan heads went wide.

"I shall expect the names of the candidates within two days, after which the elections will take place after exactly one month to allow the candidates the time to prepare, dismissed," the Hokage spoke and left, leaving a shit-storm in his wake.

Every clan head knew what was at stake. The prestige and political power that came in place with holding such an office was immense. Whichever clan won the election would without doubt unilaterally earn the position of the most powerful clan in the village. However, they also realized that it would not be easy. The clause of paying a tithe to earn that place had put a collective time-bomb under their butts. Since, monetary tithes were out, it meant that no one could purchase that position by paying outrageous sums of money. But, the requirement of giving over to the village something that would benefit the village on the whole was the clincher. It would mean that the clans would be forced to part with some of the most vital secrets they possessed in order to gain the power they desired. And that would be hard.

Everyone knew without doubt that the most vicious fight would be between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, as they were the only ones with enough clout to actually pull it off. For the entire next month, the village would enter into a mini state of civil war. The other clans although capable, lacked the political power and strength of the two dojutsu wielding clans.

Danzo also came to the same conclusion. Silently, he applauded the adroit way in which Sarutobi had handled the matter. He was the third elder, yes, and the fact that he held a seat on the council was because of the reason that he was the former head of a now defunct (only publicly) military arm of the village. If he wished to gain more leverage in the running of the village, he would need to closely monitor the elections. Since it was up only for clans, and he was not a member of any of the established clans in the village, he was by default ineligible for running for the post himself; which left him with but one option. He would have to ally himself with the clan which had the most chances of winning, and that invariably meant that he would have to choose between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha.

As the thought of the Uchiha came forth, he resolved to send his men to remind the Uchiha girl that she was late in delivering her terms of payment in their agreement. He could not waste anymore time in waiting for the girl to deliver, much more important things had cropped up.

* * *

**Two Hours Later, at Isane's home,**

Isane was busy instructing Naruto in the methods of healing animal bites, when two discreet knocks came upon the back door of her home.

She went to the back and after preparing herself for any possible attacks, she gingerly opened the door. Just because it was her home, did not mean that she could not expect an attack at the sanctity of her home itself.

As she opened the door, she was surprised to see a member of Root standing at the door. The man invited himself inside and looked at her.

"Yes?" she asked quietly as the man looked at her, "My master is displeased and requests to know the reason why you have delayed in delivering upon your part of their agreement," the man spoke stiffly.

After a while, she replied, "Follow me," and walked inside, leading the man to the hall where Naruto was sitting. "Naruto, go to your room," she spoke softly and the boy looking at her and the visitor nodded quietly and left.

After she was certain that her brother had locked himself in his room, she turned towards the man, "Tell your master that I am busy in making copies of the scrolls of the five techniques that I have promised him, but the amount of scrolls that I have to transcribe numbers up to 87 scrolls. It will take time for me to transcribe 87 scrolls, since I have to do it by myself. Furthermore," she paused as she went to a desk in the corner and opened a drawer and brought out a scroll.

"Give this scroll to your master," she spoke and handed it over to the man who took it quietly, "I have promised your master that I will heal him and restore his body to 100% efficiency. That scroll contains the materials required for that operation. Please tell your master that unless he manages to gain all the materials listed in the scroll, it will not be possible. It will take me two weeks to transcribe all the technique scrolls, and will give your people ample time to gather the materials listed in there. After the two weeks are done, send a message to designate a place where I can deliver the scrolls and operate upon him in secrecy," she spoke stiffly.

"It will be done, Isane-sama," the man replied while she arched her eyes at the use of the honorific.

"Also, please pass on this message to your master, while I can return his body to complete normalcy, he will still be bound by the limitations of his advanced age. Heal him I can, but even I cannot de-age him, and grant him anything else that he may feel inclined to request. Even returning his body to normal in itself will take its toll upon him in the immediate short-term. Tell him not to expect anything extravagant," she warned softly and the man nodded in reply, "It will be done.".

As the man turned to leave, she called back, "One more thing, henceforth, do not send your operatives here, and if you must deliver a message, use other means apart from sending your operatives personally. I need not impress upon you the need for secrecy, you can get it yourself," she spoke sharply and the man nodded before disappearing via Shunshin.

That evening, she was surprised to see Mikoto Uchiha visit her personally.

"Isane-chan, please come with me," Mikoto spoke quietly and the girl was surprised.

"But Mikoto-sama, my brother…," she began when the older woman interrupted, "Do not worry, he can stay with Sasuke-kun for the duration we are away, at our home," she replied quietly with a disarming smile on her face. Seeing the seriousness in her eyes, Isane nodded quietly. Soon, Naruto left with a guard to go to the Clan head's home.

"Mikoto-sama, what is going on?" she asked finally when they were out of earshot of anybody.

"We are going to a clan meeting, dear girl," Mikoto spoke softly.

"But…I heard that women are not allowed in such meetings," Isane pointed out in consternation at which the wife of the Clan head shook her head.

"You are partly correct, however, women who have activated our bloodline are required to attend, and currently you and I are the only one's who have activated the Sharingan in the clan and as such are required to go there," the woman spoke softly.

As they entered the clan's secret meeting place, Mikoto turned towards the girl, "Until now, I had been the only woman privy to entering this place, but from now on, it is not so. This meeting will be held by the entire circle of leadership in our clan, so be careful, and speak only when spoken to," Mikoto warned the young girl who nodded her head in agreement.

In the meeting place, she saw that the attendance consisted of quite a few men, all of whom had advanced their bloodline to the third tomoe stage, the final recognized stage (officially) by the clan. Most of them looked surprised at seeing her, but none objected.

The three elders and Fugaku sat separately on a dais, while the others were sitting on the ground. Mikoto led her to another separate place in the room, which it appeared was specifically set aside for the women.

Soon, once everybody had settled down, Fugaku began to explain what had happened that day in the meeting with the Hokage. As she heard the details, Isane finally understood why Danzo had hurried her in trying to deliver upon the terms of their agreement.

This was an unexpected development, and she realized that she had to handle this perfectly. If she helped the Uchiha gain this seat, then as the person responsible for it, her position would improve within the clan, and she would gain much more leeway to act as she saw fit.

Meanwhile, Fugaku had finished his report, and the men were busy discussing the ramifications of the announcement made by the Hokage. It was unanimously agreed that the clan had to do everything in its power to gain that seat of power. With the threat of Homura and Koharu gone, for the first time, since the death of the Nidaime Hokage, the clan would have a chance in making their voice heard in matters concerning the ruling of the village.

Finally, the matter came upon the tithe required. Various suggestions were offered, ranging from techniques that could be given, to various other services that could be rendered. As she watched the decision making process, she hit upon an idea, which would help the clan and at the same time render the aid she had given to Danzo useless. Now all she needed was for the elders to take the bait.

She cleared her throat, at which all talk stopped and everyone turned to look at her. Mikoto was looking mortified, but Isane shook her head indicating the older woman to be silent.

"Yes, young one, you have something to speak about?" one of the elders asked as he looked at her and she nodded hesitantly.

"Yes, honored elder, If I may make a suggestion, I know of a certain thing that could be offered as the tithe which could guarantee the clan's victory in the election," she spoke as many men hissed at her impertinence, but she ignored them all.

"That is a very bold claim to make," another elder spoke, but she continued, "Please allow me to state my case," and after a moment's deliberation the elders nodded.

"I have in my possession the technique to create a cure, which will reduce all fatalities incurred by poisoning in the line of duty in shinobi work by 44%. This cure that I can create will render at least a quarter of the known poisons in the world useless. If you can present this cure to the council as the tithe paid by the clan, I have no doubt that the clan's candidature will succeed," she spoke softly.

The reaction was electric, nearly ever man in the room stood up in shock looking at the petite young girl who had made so bold a claim, while Mikoto's jaws dropped open.

The reaction from the first elder was terse, "You are certain about this, young one?"

"Indeed, honored elder," she spoke while the other members present now looked at her in surprise.

"Furthermore," she continued, "As you all know, Konohagakure, is allied with Kusagakure, the village hidden in grass, only because Kusagakure is acknowledged as the leading expert in poison lore in the world, ahead of even Sunagakure, despite being a minor village. However, with this cure, Konoha need not depend on a minor village thus granting it political independence from being forced to make concessions to a minor village in order to receive their aid, and once that becomes clear to the representative of the daimyo…," she stopped as the elders took a sharp breath.

"He will have no choice but to endorse our candidature…," the first elder spoke softly.

"The political implications itself are mind-boggling, the village will have no choice but to be indebted to us, we could even gain unilateral concessions," the second elder continued.

"However, before committing ourselves to this venture, we must be certain that what you propose is feasible," the third elder finished as he stared at the girl.

"It is. My mother had already created a sample before her untimely death. The clan medics can verify her experiments. If the clan can provide me with the materials required, within 11 days, I can prepare the cure, and provide it to you," she spoke softly as she sat down, while many men were now watching her with disguised admiration.

"However, I must mention that there might be some risk involved in obtaining some of the materials, which is why I am hesitant to propose this, but I also urge you to consider alternatives should this venture fail," she spoke quietly and again whispers emanated.

Fugaku could not help but admire as he watched the girl make her case and yet caution them about hoping too much.

"What risks do you speak about?" the first elder asked curiously.

"All except one particular key ingredient can be obtained in Konoha. This cure needs a particular herb, which grows only in isles that come under the borders of Kirigakure. Therefore, the clan would need to send someone to infiltrate the Village hidden in the mist to get this particular herb," she finished as again mutterings erupted.

"Kirigakure, eh?" the first elder mused as everybody began to think about the ramifications of infiltrating the borders of the village known to contain the most bloodthirsty shinobi in the world.

"And this cure, cannot be made without this herb?" the second elder asked and she shook her head.

"When would you require the herb, if we were to agree to this?" the third elder asked her.

"I would need it in ten days, after which I would need another 11 days to prepare the cure and test its effectiveness, all in all, twenty one days," she replied quietly.

"Very well, it will be put to vote," Fugaku declared and suddenly the focus turned towards voting on whether to accept her proposal.

Surprisingly, her proposal was carried by 27-13 votes in her favor.

"As the girl has stated, this herb is located in enemy territory, therefore we will need to send one of our very best. Itachi cannot be sent because as of now, we can be certain that our rivals will keep him under surveillance in order to find out what we are attempting. It must be someone who is on par with Itachi in skill and yet one who will not be as prone as the head's family will be for surveillance by our rivals," the first elder decreed.

"The girl cannot be sent as well, apart from being the only one who possesses the knowledge to do what is required, sending her will definitely alert our rivals. We must not forget what is at stake, whichever clan wins this election, will have the position of utmost power in the hierarchy of Konoha, after the council. As such, it is guaranteed that other clans will try to sabotage our efforts, as of now, this decree is passed, none may speak of what has transpired here, even in the sanctity of their homes, under the pain of death," the second elder finished as everybody nodded grimly.

"Who do we send?" one of the members asked.

At that, the three elders and Fugaku conferred for some moments, and then Fugaku spoke up, "Shisui," at which Shisui Uchiha stood up.

Isane smirked. _I love it when a plan comes together,_ the girl smirked as Shisui Uchiha was given orders to perform a solo mission to infiltrate Mizu no Kuni by the Uchiha clan.

After the meeting had been declared as closed, she had been informed that Shisui would come to her home tomorrow to collect all details required, and she had agreed.

As the meeting was declared over, Mikoto turned towards her, "Dear, would you and Itachi mind going to our home and wait until I and my husband arrive and take care of the children until then?" the woman asked in a sweet tone, and not waiting to hear her reply went inside leaving her alone with Itachi who stood at a corner.

_Clever, very clever, Mikoto-san, but that will not be enough for your son to accomplish what you expect him to do, _she thought grimly as she watched the older woman walk inside.

* * *

Inside the meeting place, only Fugaku, Mikoto, and the three elders remained.

"Fugaku, Mikoto, you have seen what has transpired today. That girl is absolutely indispensable to this clan. Her skills and her political acumen are extraordinary. What progress has your son made with regards to getting close to her?" the first elder asked quietly.

Both the clan head and his wife looked embarrassed which conveyed the message clearly.

"I see," the second elder continued, "If she were any other girl, by now we would have forced her to marry Itachi even. But she being who she is complicates matters. She is under the personal protection of Sarutobi, Hatake and even the Daimyo, and even we cannot give offence to such figures. Sarutobi is the Hokage, and Hatake is rumored to be next in line for that position, besides being her godfather, and we need not even speak about the daimyo, considering the events of last week," the elder finished quietly.

"It is imperative that before the girl realizes the amount of power she wields, she be married to Itachi. We will not allow her to be the Tsunade of the Uchiha clan. While we respect her and her achievements, we cannot allow her to do as she wishes. She must learn her place, and that is to be the wife of the next clan head. Already, we are beginning to receive proposals from other clans desiring her hand in marriage to forge alliances, but Sarutobi has prohibited them all. Of course, we would never have allowed it ourselves, but the issue is clear," the third elder spoke out and the clan head and his wife nodded.

"Fugaku, tell your son that he has one year to get close to the girl and to get her to accept his proposal, failing which we will be forced to act, despite the problems that may arise at that, are we clear?" the first elder spoke and Fugaku nodded curtly.

* * *

**PREVIEW: NEXT CHAPTER**

"Tell me, how is it that a ninja of Kirigakure like you, came to possess the Byakugan?" Shisui spoke coldly as he evaded another attack by the Kiri Ninja.

"You will not live long enough to know that, Shunshin no Shisui," Ao, the member of the seven swordsmen of the mist of Kirigakure retorted as he hefted his huge sword back to deliver another blow.

Unknown to either of them, Isane was closely monitoring their battle waiting for the time to strike. For her plan to work, Ao needed to die, and his corpse needed to be brought to Konoha. It was crucial for her plan to stop Danzo, and at the same time necessary for preventing the Hyuuga from winning the election.


	5. Chaos Arc Chapter 1 : Fear

As they walked back towards Itachi's home, the two teenagers were remarkably subdued. Itachi subtly glanced at Isane and initiated the conversation first.

"What do you make of this process initiated by the Hokage?" he asked Isane who looked at him in surprise.

For her part, she was surprised because she had been expecting him to make more overtures at her, trying to win her over, but he had deftly steered the topic of conversation between them away from that potentially embarrassing situation.

She took a deep breath and sighed, "In my honest opinion, the Sandaime Hokage has made a grave mistake in announcing this election," she spoke softly while Itachi narrowed his eyes.

"That is an interesting hypothesis; would you care to substantiate your belief?" Itachi asked carefully masking his tone.

"Interesting? I just accused the Hokage of flagrantly violating the existing system in the shinobi world, and you call that _interesting_?" Isane asked with a hint of sarcasm in her tone as Itachi narrowed his eyes.

"I am sorry," Itachi said, trying to move the discussion toward Isane's views. "You didn't explain why you think --"

"I do not think anything, _Itachi-san. _I know. That is the purpose of my studies and observations – to know things, not to surmise them. Not to theorize. Not to hypothesize. That is why I and my brother have survived to this day, despite the wishes of the majority of the village which leans towards our demise --"

"Surely, you exaggerate," Itachi replied frowning as he eyed the girl.

"Really? In that case, allow me to enlighten your blinded eyes, Itachi-san, this world is nowhere near as predictable as you think it is. Do you know why I am so knowledgeable in the affairs of the village, despite being a recluse?" she asked as Itachi shook his head.

"I study the ecology of thought," Isane replied. "And how it has led to a State of Fear."

* * *

They were sitting on two chairs in the portico of Itachi's home, while Sasuke and Naruto played outside. Two steaming mugs of tea were laid out on the table as the two sat down to discuss Isane's thoughts.

"Four years ago, I began to analyze the pattern of behaviors amongst various strata of the populace within the village, with regards to their thoughts towards me and my brother," Isane began as Itachi widened his eyes in surprise at hearing that, " I merely wished to know the level of antagonism that I and my brother would face if we were to ever venture out in public, therefore I disguised myself, and thus subtly collected opinions of diverse personalities all over the village, of various status, regarding myself and my brother," she admitted after taking a deep breath.

"Interesting," Itachi admitted as he eyed her while subtly reevaluating her as he heard her admissions.

"Medical studies also include psychology; it is a major part of the medical field, which allows a competent healer to analyze the aberrations in the thoughts of a patient, but when applied as a whole to a system, like the population of this village as example, extremely sensitive intelligence and data can be gained, which if utilized properly could allow a skilled manipulator to control the entire village, without even coming into the eye of the public. Of course, that was not my intention, but I did gain a windfall of intelligence which was priceless in nature," she admitted while Itachi looked at her in horrified fascination.

"You can't be serious," the teenager spluttered while she shook her head.

"All you need to do is look at fashion and slang," she continued, "the latter being a kind of verbal fashion. I wanted to know the determinants of fashion and speech. What I found out was that there are no identifiable determinants. Fashions change for arbitrary reasons and although there are regularities – cycles, periodicities, and correlations – these are merely descriptive, not explanatory. Are you following me?"

"I think so," Itachi said.

"In any case, I realized that these periodicities and correlations could be regarded as systems themselves. I tested that hypothesis and found it heuristically valuable. Just as there is an ecology of the natural world, in the forests and mountains, so too there is an ecology of the man-made world of mental abstractions, ideas and thoughts. That is what I have studied."

"I fail to see how that is relevant to our current topic," Itachi pointed out as she nodded.

"I am coming to that. Just as there are aberrations in nature, in the form of natural disasters, there exist aberrations in the human mind as well, which if exploited carefully can be more hazardous than any other force in the world. The Yamanaka clan knows this very well, which is the reason why they make the best interrogators in the world," Isane replied carefully as she sipped her tea gingerly.

"But how can you substantiate these allegations without proof?' Itachi argued as he looked at her.

Isane sighed, "Exceptional ninja you might be, but you are too naïve Itachi-san, you believe that the world is predictable, where everything exists in binary notions of right and wrong, when in reality it is all a matter of perspective. What is right for one may be wrong for another, have you ever thought of that? By what basis do you define what is right and what is wrong? When there exist no parameters to make these definitions in the first place?" she spoke as she shot a chastising look at Itachi who looked highly affronted.

"Tell me Itachi-san, are you a avid reader of history?" she asked him carefully as she looked at him.

"Yes," Itachi replied and she smiled grimly.

"Then, if you had been a little more discerning, you would have found out what I did, yourself," she pointed out while Itachi frowned. He usually did not take kindly to being talked down in such a manner, but he held his peace and listened to her make her point.

Isane oblivious of his state, continued, "If you study history as I do, seeking to find shifts in normative conceptualization, you will find something interesting. Inside the records of transcripts of the council meetings, I counted the frequency of certain concepts and terms used by the councilors during meetings. The results were very interesting."

"What did you find?" Itachi said, taking his cue.

"There has been a major shift since the attack of the Kyuubi seven years ago and the death of the Yondaime Hokage. Until then, the councilors did not often make use of terms like _crisis, catastrophe, cataclysm, plague _or _disaster._ Until then, these terms were used disparagingly, but after the attack of the Kyuubi, the pattern changed."

"In what way?"

"It was a subtle attempt at manipulating and pressurizing the Sandaime Hokage into relinquishing more and more authority to the council, not intended directly of course, but desired all the same. All these words were frequently used to pressurize the Hokage publicly and to force him to cave in to the demands of the council. There was a heightened emphasis on fear, worry, danger, uncertainty, and panic."

"Why did this shift occur seven years ago only?"

"Ah. A good question, or rather, a critical question. The year the Kyuubi attacked marked a significant change in the geo-political strata of the elemental nations. Until then, because of the presence of the Yondaime Hokage, the Densetsu no Sannin, and our thumping victory over Iwagakure, we had all but cemented our place as the most powerful of all the five nations. Even you should know that," she replied softly and Itachi nodded in agreement.

"Well, when you look at it that way, when the Kyuubi attacked, the strongest of all villages was reduced to nothing, our ninja were reduced to nothing against the might of the demon, we lost hundreds of people, and the Yondaime was forced to sacrifice his life in desperation to stop the demon. After the attack, we were reduced to a wreck. The mightiest were now arguably the weakest. And to those people in the village whose egos were acclimatized to thinking themselves as the most powerful beings in the world, this was an unacceptable affront. The Yondaime dead, and within weeks after that, Orochimaru of the Sannin's defection which landed an even more mortal blow. Then the incident of Kumogakure and their alleged attempt at kidnapping the young Hyuuga heiress leading to near war, all seemingly separate incidents but by pure coincidence happening in the immediate aftermath of the Kyuubi attack."

Isane fell silent again, looking at Itachi in a significant way, very pleased with herself.

"I am sorry, Isane-san, I still don't get it," Itachi replied after a while as he tried to discern the reason for her smugness.

"Neither did I, at the beginning, I had set out to gauge the level of hatred the villagers had for my brother and myself, but I had accidentally stumbled upon something much, much more grave than anything else," she continued while Itachi looked lost.

"I am sorry, I still can't see where you are leading towards…," Itachi began when she interrupted him.

"I am leading to the notion of social control, Itachi. To the requirement of every sovereign state to exert control over its citizens, to keep them orderly and docile. To keep them swaying to their orders, as they see fit. To keep them paying taxes. And of course, we know that social control is best achieved through fear."

"Fear," Itachi said with a blank look on his face.

"Exactly, for fifty years, the village had kept order in the villager's by maintaining a state of perpetual fear. One which was accomplished flawlessly through the ruse of the Shinobi world wars. Didn't you find it amusing that whenever the five nations entered a period of stability, within few years, for any trivial reason, wars would again break out? It is simple; through the fear of war is the only way through which the hidden villages survive. Because without war, there is no need for shinobi, our entire culture will vanish, and that is one thing the shinobi world will never allow to happen. Fear, coercion, and intimidation, these are the tools through which the shinobi villages control the population. By instigating fear through propaganda, and then by declaring themselves as the only way to hold the fear at bay, the villages survive," she finished while Itachi drew a deep breath.

"But the arrival of the Yondaime Hokage changed all that. He effectively ended the third shinobi world war single handedly, and the fear of his prowess ironically engendered the very peace that would lead to the demise of the shinobi world, not something that he did not intend, nor that he realized it himself, I suppose. But the fact is, with the wars gone; it created a vacuum of fear. Nature abhors a vacuum. Something had to fill it."

"The Kyuubi," Itachi spoke curtly seeing where she was leading.

"The Kyuubi," she agreed.

"The Kyuubi, as I have gleaned from my research, is generally found where malice and despair prevails the most. And I surmised that with the lull in the shinobi world, in general, there was disguised despair, possibly in the subconscious of the majority of shinobi who found that the need for them was decreasing drastically. I do not know whether the beast sensed it and manifested or not, but no one could deny that its appearance once again gave birth to fear, thus reestablishing the hold of shinobi over the populace as the only ones who could rid the world of that menace, and the Yondaime Hokage ironically proved that myth true, thus solidifying the need for shinobi once more."

"You are suggesting that a natural disaster took place of the wars as a propaganda tool to generate fear amongst the masses?" Itachi asked skeptically.

Isane nodded, "That is what the evidence shows. Before the Kyuubi, the major threat was war. Then the Kyuubi itself. After that, with the disappearance of the Kyuubi another vacuum took place. But the minds of the populace needed something to fill that vacuum, _and it is into that vacuum that I and my brother fell into_," she spoke softly.

Itachi jerked as if somebody had slapped him as he eyed the morose girl.

"With the Kyuubi gone, something was required to generate fear amongst the populace to engender some order amongst them to force a dependence on the shinobi. Therefore, my little brother, in whom the Kyuubi was sealed, became the unintentional scapegoat for the world. A few despicable individuals seized upon that concept, and with some propaganda, the rumors of the demon child began to surface. Of a child, who had the demon within him, one who could unleash it, but of course, only the brave shinobi of the village would be there to stop the threat. The point is, Itachi-san, although the specific cause of our fear may change, we are never without fear itself. Fear pervades all aspects of society in all its aspects. Perpetually."

Itachi looked at her dejected face and could not help but feel ashamed, for he too had in his childhood fallen victim to the prejudice that was prevalent around her brother.

"Once I discovered this, I realized that an effective propaganda machine had been functioning in the village for a long time, discrediting my brother and me, but subtly, so that no one would recognize it, but I did, not that it matters any way, for I have no means to counter them, but that is neither here nor there. What was important was that, its efforts were focused on portraying my brother as a threat, and therefore by raising him as an issue, the misinformed and prejudiced members of the civilian council would make extortionist demands forcing the Hokage to accede to their whims, weakening him while making the people behind this setup more powerful politically, and this has been happening for a long time. The civilian council is in essence, a puppet front for a coterie of amorous individuals, who desire more power in the village, regardless of whatever it costs them to achieve it. And for their needs, it is my brother who has been forced to be the sacrificial lamb," she spat out harshly while Itachi lowered his eyes.

"That is very enlightening, Isane-chan," a voice came behind them and they turned around in surprise to see Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha standing behind them, looking very somber.

"Mother, father," Itachi nodded in recognition as the two teens stood up, "Since when were you two listening?" he asked quietly.

"For quite a while, your discussion was most enlightening," Fugaku admitted as the couple pulled out two more chairs and sat next to the teens.

"You are a remarkably gifted girl, Isane-chan," Mikoto pointed out as she poured out two more cups of tea for herself and her husband.

"Yes, I never realized that public sentiment and opinion could work in this manner, although, I did know about some of the facts that you spoke about," Fugaku replied seriously as he looked at her.

"But still, you maintain that the Hokage has made a mistake in announcing the election?" Itachi asked her taking the appearance of his parents in stride, while both Fugaku and Mikoto spluttered and looked at the girl in shock.

"A mistake?" Fugaku spluttered as he eyed the girl who sighed audibly.

"I too would like to know of this," Mikoto replied softly as she eyed the girl.

"Simple, this is a mercenary village, and by definition, at least technically, we are all mercenaries. Democracy or democratic processes such as these would ruin the village by opening a can with a huge number of worms. Has it occurred to you that these elections could in fact lead to wide and rampant corruption? After all, even with the protective clause of tithes, what is the guarantee that the daimyo's representative cannot be bought? Even if you were to offer something magnificent as the tithe from the clan, a simple bribe could make him ignore you and choose others. Besides, other villages could use this as a means to spy on us. What if other villages offered a clan a means to win the election, so that they could place a spy close to the leadership of our village, to subtly influence and manipulate our village? There are countless possibilities for disaster and it is a very frightening possibility that any of these could occur," she spoke curtly as the other three looked at her horrified.

"Are you saying that a clan could betray the village? Impossible!!" Fugaku declared flatly eyeing her as if she were mad.

"Not impossible, merely improbable. After all, this election brings a promise of great reward in the form of power, and who doesn't desire power? Not all clans in the village are as powerful as ours, and other villages can capitalize on this. If they were to offer one of the weaker clans, an effective means to win the election in lieu of their allegiance, what is to prevent said clan from betraying the village? After all, power is addictive, and absolute power corrupts even more, and this election nearly grants absolute power, second only to the Hokage's. And yet you speak of loyalty? Are you daft? We are shinobi. Trust is a word that should not even exist in our vocabulary. I would not trust even my own shadow as long as I am in this village," she snapped as Mikoto glared at her.

"You go too far," Mikoto retorted as she glared at the girl.

"Nara," Isane replied quietly shrugging her shoulders while the others recoiled in horror. The full weight of what she spoke sunk into their minds.

"I see that you understand. You live in a village where a clan which can manipulate shadows exists. What is there to prevent them from killing you by using your own shadows against you without your realizing it? Again, I admit it is improbable, but not impossible. _Trust_, should never be taken for granted in the shinobi world. I can't believe that you of all people could ignore this, Fugaku-sama," she retorted while a properly chastised Fugaku Uchiha sank down in his chair looking at her in a new light.

"All right, Isane, you have convinced me that your theory is not without basis, but still, how can you say that this process is categorically wrong?" Mikoto asked as she looked at the girl seriously.

"Fine, I know that you all know the history of the hidden villages, right? As far as I can recall, no other hidden village in the elemental nations has ever attempted something like this. A notion like this could destabilize the entire balance of the shinobi world. Already, the powers of the Hokage are waning, thanks in no small part to the interference of the Civilian council. If Konoha, which is still regarded as the most powerful of the villages itself, were to fall apart thanks to the corruption that would ensue from such democratic processes, it could very well start a chain reaction leading to similar changes in other villages. Positions of power, filled by politicians who would not hesitate to stoop to any level to gain what they want. Even start needless wars to satisfy their inflated senses of self-worth. It would effectively ruin the balance of peace and lead to a large scale world war," she finished while the others looked at her carefully.

"Aren't you being too alarmist?" Itachi asked carefully.

She shook her head, "I am being realistic, it may not happen overnight, but happen it will, this I guarantee. The Hokage may have done this with the hopes of curtailing the powers of the civilian council, but he has in fact, placed himself in a trap, from which there is no out," she replied softly leaving her words hanging in the air like an ominous prophecy.

"Well, I can't deny that you have given us much to think about," Fugaku sighed deeply as he got up.

"Perhaps, with your intelligence, the clan should nominate you as the candidate for the post of the advisor," Mikoto joked as everyone laughed, thereby dissipating the tense atmosphere that had hung over the place.

"I must take my leave now, Fugaku-sama, Mikoto-sama; I still need to prepare the list for Shisui-san before he departs tomorrow. Have a good night, you too, Itachi-san," she replied softly as she bowed and walked out. Itachi walked her out while the two older people watched her leave with an inscrutable look on their face.

"She is dangerous…I find that I am not disturbed by this fact…it's more like I am afraid…of her…," Mikoto spoke softly as she eyed the leaving girl.

"Yes," her husband nodded. "It seems that we have greatly underestimated her," the head of the Uchiha clan replied tersely. He had been shaken to his core by the way in which the girl had disproved all his beliefs about their culture.

* * *

As they eyed the recording of the discussion, Madara and Pein could not help but be impressed at the girl's logic and reasoning. Zetsu had been remarkably efficient in eavesdropping on the discussion and recording it as well.

"A fascinating girl, you have chosen very well indeed, Madara; I must admit that even I am impressed," Pein replied softly as the recording ended.

"It takes instinct to realize true potential, Pein; I hope you have no more doubts, Konan?" Madara asked as he looked towards their only female companion.

"I too must admit that I underestimated her greatly, her grasp on politics and the human psyche is amazing. We definitely need people like her in the Akatsuki. She is too valuable a person to be wasted upon a worthless village like Konoha, which will not recognize her talents and give her, her dues," Konan replied.

"I agree," Madara nodded softly.

"Am I to take it that you intend to interfere in this foolishness instigated by the Sandaime Hokage?" Pein asked Madara who smiled grimly.

"It is quite an opportunity, and I do not intend to look a gift horse in the mouth. I will do what is required. All that is needed is to ensure that the girl realizes that she has no recourse but to join us," Madara replied quietly as Pein and Konan nodded in agreement.

"One more thing, Madara, I finished the tests yesterday. The matrix states that the weapon can be created with just eight of the Bijuu, the Kyuubi is not really necessary," Pein spoke quietly as Madara stopped for a second before he grinned widely.

"Excellent, that increases our chances measurably. Instruct Kisame to travel to Kirigakure, I have work for him there," Madara replied and then vanished leaving Pein pondering over the reason for the abrupt decision in sending Kisame to Kirigakure of all places as he contacted Kisame via his ring.

* * *

**AN:** Most of the points for the discussion, specifically the psychological aspects were borrowed from the book 'State of Fear' by Michael Crichton, which I adapted to my story. If you do get the chance to read it, do so, it is a fascinating read. What I have mentioned here does not even cover five percent of what has been written in the book, besides, I have heavily modified the parts I have borrowed to match the needs of my story, while the real book deals with a completely different category.

Another thing, one of my friends has suggested that seeing as I have been taking this story as a serious theme, it would be good if I made it so that even Pein too finds himself attracted to Isane, leading to friction between him and Madara and Konan as well. A thought really, I have made no definite plans on pairing, and some of my other friends are of the opinion that with the mindset I have been developing for Isane, a female as a romantic interest would not be too bad either. While I have never even thought about that, I must admit it intrigues me, therefore I would like your opinions on that matter as well. It will help me decide to take the direction I want the story proceed in. While I can't guarantee that I will follow all your opinions to the letter, I must admit that it will give me a better perspective as to how this story can be developed.

**Regards,**

**A.S. **


	6. Chaos Arc Chapter 2:Seeds of Destruction

Itachi Uchiha had spent a sleepless night, thanks to the discussion he had been involved in with Isane. The words spoken by the enigmatic girl had had a profound impact upon the teen's impressionable mind. Although, an unrivalled genius of the highest caliber, Itachi had never ever been caught as off guard as he had been the previous night.

In just one hour, his entire perception of the shinobi world in general had been shattered. As the eldest son of the clan head and the heir apparent of the Uchiha clan, he had been tutored specifically, in diplomacy, political science and the art of negotiation, and yet, he realized that all the knowledge he possessed was useless in real world applications. It was quite a humbling thought.

A girl, considered as an outcaste no less, had bested him, a prized prodigy of the village; he realized, not just in intelligence, but in skill as well. He was not so arrogant as to believe himself unbeatable, unlike most of his fellow clansmen who usually fell victims to arrogance and inflated senses of self-worth.

Although he had not seen her prowess in combat yet, Itachi did not for a second doubt that her prowess was limited because of her being a healer. Hell, Tsunade of the Sannin was a medic, and even to date, entire shinobi villages were still wary of antagonizing the female Sannin. And Isane had shown everyone that she did indeed possess the skill and power needed to surpass the legendary female shinobi.

Idly, his thoughts wandered over to her, and he wondered why she was so steadfast in refusing his advances. He had not been as pushy as some of the other males he had been acquainted with, and yet, she had bluntly refused his proposal. Usually, it was he who was pestered by girls of the village who vied with each other for his attention, and yet she did not even care. It fascinated the youngster, for he realized that she was not like other girls whom he had encountered. And it was just as well, because it made him all the more determined to win her over. He was an Uchiha, and an Uchiha never backed out from a challenge after all.

* * *

**MEANWHILE, AT THE HYUUGA MANOR**

"Hiashi-sama, our people report that Shisui Uchiha has indeed been sent on an undisclosed mission on behalf of his clan, but we were unable to discern what the purpose of the mission is," a branch house member reported to the head of his clan as he bowed down to him.

"Very well," Hiashi spoke and dismissed the man turning around to meet with the other senior members of the main house and the elders of his clan.

"What do you make of this?" he asked the elders who frowned.

"It does not bode well," one of the elders spoke as he began to pace around. "Usually," the elder continued, "The Uchiha clan has always been predictable in its actions because quite frankly, they had no say in the governance of the village until now, but lately, I find it disconcerting that the Uchiha have grown so unpredictable."

"Yes, thanks to the xenophobia of the former advisors, we have been cementing our position in the political arena solidly, thus making our clan more powerful politically. But with their death, and now this election, all our careful work for the last 45 years, since the death of the Nidaime Hokage is in danger of being unwrought," another elder added as he too looked disgusted at the prospect of a more powerful Uchiha clan.

"As it stands," the first elder continued, "Until now, we were safe with the guarantee that the duo of Koharu and Homura would keep the Uchiha in check, thus allowing us to consolidate more power politically in the village. But now, for the first time since the rebellion of Madara Uchiha, the Uchiha again have a chance of gaining a foothold in the governance of the village, and if they win this election, it will bode ill for us," the elder spoke quietly.

"Then it is clear, the Uchiha cannot be allowed to win," another member of the main house declared.

"Easier said than done," Hiashi retorted, "Do not forget that they too possess one of the three legendary dojutsu. Their shinobi are powerful, too powerful if I may say. They have generated many Kage-level shinobi and some even greater than that in the past. While the paranoia of the advisors and the shinobi forces may work in our favor, the common public on the other hand adores them. They hold the heart of the masses. Because of their being the Police force of the village, they are much closer to the populace than any other clan in the village. And ultimately, even in a mercenary village such as ours, it is the will of the mob that determines the scales of power. Do not forget, compared to the Uchiha, the common people do not hold us in as high regard as they should. We are respected as a noble clan, but that is all. They cower before us and respect us, but do not assume that we are as well liked as we think we are. They call us, in secret, do pardon my language, 'Stuck-up snobs with sticks in their asses' if my information is correct," the head of the Hyuuga clan frowned as his face contorted with distaste. The others frowned as well.

"Do you find it a co-incidence that the demon child is once again behind the upswing of fortunes with regards to the Uchiha?" the second elder asked as the head of the clan frowned at hearing the name.

"What do you mean?" another member of the main house asked in reply.

"I mean to say, ironic isn't it? Madara Uchiha was the only human capable of commanding the Kyuubi, and yet after his death, the Kyuubi once again attacked, but I always wondered why the Yondaime chose an Uchiha boy to seal the demon, when he could have used any other. A jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no less, makes for a very powerful statement. If that child manages to tame the powers of the beast, he will grow as powerful as, if not even surpass Uchiha Madara, and if our intelligence is correct, it already seems that he has surpassed most Chunin in the village, at least with regard to his chosen field even at the tender age of seven. The last shinobi prodigies of that caliber to arise in the village were, once again I remind you, Uchiha Itachi, and also Hatake Kakashi, who also holds close ties to the Uchiha, by virtue of his association with the demon children. My brother is correct, the Uchiha are growing stronger by the day, and something must be done to curtail their power," the second elder finished in a somber tone.

"Even more dangerous than the boy is his sister, I believe," the first elder continued at which sharp looks were thrown at the elder by everybody else which the elder ignored as he continued, "From what I have seen, that girl possesses an acute knowledge of how the political system in the village works. She has the ears of Sarutobi, his chosen successor Hatake, who is co-incidentally her godfather, and also the daimyo himself. And it has been said that she is well on her way to surpass Tsunade within the next couple of years, while Uchiha Itachi is said to be a genius on par with Orochimaru. I don't think any of you have noticed, but within two days after being threatened, she managed to have Homura and Koharu declared as traitors and executed, a feat which until now had been inconceivable, even in our wildest thoughts," the elder paused as he took a deep breath, and continued, "She is too great a threat to be left alone, she must be eliminated in any way possible. The Uchiha guard her zealously knowing what a prize she is. Already many offers of marriage for her hand have been rejected, and we definitely cannot pursue that avenue to get rid of her, due to our acerbic history. But we must get rid of her. I have no doubt that she is also involved in the process of helping the Uchiha win this election," the elder declared quietly.

"Very well, we need to discuss a method to deal with this problem. Let us disperse now for our mid-day repast. We shall convene again in the evening to continue our discussion," Hiashi declared and got up.

Unknown to them all, a person was watching their discussion unseen and carefully camouflaged to fool even the Byakugan.

"Very interesting, so my suspicions were not unfounded," the masked figure thought quietly as the proceedings unfolded below.

Suddenly, the doors barged open and two main house members barged in looking disheveled and very upset. The person smiled, "This should be more interesting," the person thought as the meeting hall exploded into chaos.

"Hiashi-sama, there has been a burglary in the mansion," one of the men declared as he skid to a halt gasping for breath. It appeared as if they had been running continuously and were looking tired and taking steady gasps of air.

The absurdity of the statement left all the members in the meeting chamber gaping and spluttering like incoherent children.

A theft within a clan whose members can see even through stone walls 10 feet thick? It was ridiculous to the extreme!! The Hyuuga manor was the safest place in Konoha, surpassed only by the Hokage tower itself. And there had never, and that meant never, been a theft in their clan.

"What foolishness is this?" Hiashi thundered as the two elders stood up in shock, while the other main house members stood up agitated.

"The clan safe……was open," the first man stammered as the killing intent of Hiashi Hyuuga rose.

"And, all the guards had been placed in a genjutsu, that we have not been able to remove, _even now_," the second man added, as the head of the Hyuuga clan hurled a vase on the table at the men snarling in anger. The two men cowered and ducked as the vase sailed over their heads and shattered against the door.

"What has been lost?" the first elder asked carefully.

"The……monetary sealing scrolls……two of the three have been taken…," the first man replied, clearly fearing for his life as Hiashi Hyuuga lost all semblance of self-control and bellowed like an injured bull.

"That is……at least 120 million Ryo………," the second elder gasped in shock as he sat down clutching his chest and wheezing hard.

"Nearly two thirds of the entire clan wealth………gone…," the first elder whispered as he sat down in shock.

"It is the Uchiha!! They are behind this!!" Hiashi snarled and stood up, with his eyes bloodshot, and his jowls quivering in rage.

"Do not be ridiculous, Hiashi!!" the first elder snapped, "You cannot accuse the Village police force of committing a theft, besides, you have no proof," the elder snapped angrily.

"Doesn't change a damn thing!! I am going to confront Fugaku and ……," Hiashi snarled as the elder yanked him back.

"And what? Make ourselves look like fools in front of the village? Do not forget, we have derided the Uchiha Military Police for decades as useless, and even demanded specifically that they keep out of the Hyuuga enclave!! And now, you wish to declare to the world that we have been subjected to theft like common louts?? It will destroy our reputation and at this crucial juncture in the village political scene, it will mean political suicide for us!! If we cannot guard the sanctity of our own residences, which we have claimed to be the safest place in the village apart from the Hokage's tower, then how can the village trust us to safeguard its interests?" the elder snarled as Hiashi pounded his fist into the wall near him in rage. His knuckles cracked and began to bleed but he did not care.

"Whoever has done this will pay dearly," Hiashi declared as he prowled around like a wounded lion.

"There is no doubt, this was done with the intent to cripple our resources before the election process," the second elder growled ominously as the others whirled around as they looked at the old man in shock.

"Yes, I agree," the first elder concurred, "Clearly, with our resources now crippled, we no longer have the ability to sway the mind of the daimyo's representative," he spoke quietly, clearly avoiding the usage of the term 'bribe', but his meaning was clear. With their finances severely crippled, they had now lost the ability to bribe the daimyo's representative, whoever that person was.

"At any rate," another main house member continued, "This cannot be allowed to become public, at any cost, at least until the elections conclude. Otherwise, we stand to lose all credibility. Such a grave act of defiance against a shinobi clan, especially one as major as ours will make us seem incompetent and we stand to lose a great deal more, not just political power, this can never be made public! We must solve this on our own," the man spoke quietly and there were slow nods of agreement.

"Most fascinating! Are you perhaps involved in this as well, my little humming bird?" from his hidden vantage point, Uchiha Madara mused silently as he vanished.

He had been spying on the Hyuuga out of idle curiosity to know what counter measures they were taking against his erstwhile clan, but he had unexpectedly witnessed something far more interesting, and he was now determined to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

**TWO HOURS LATER,**

**KIRIGAKURE MISSION CENTER,**

The chunin in charge of receiving applications for new missions was surprised to see a request for an S-ranked mission amongst the new applications. His eyes narrowed, because Kirigakure rarely received such missions from public contractors. In fact, most of the missions of that nature were assigned only by the daimyo of Mizu no Kuni, and they were far too few. He decided to bring this to the notice of the 4th Mizukage.

As he neared the chamber of the Mizukage, the man became increasingly scared. The 4th Mizukage, Yagura, was the reason why their village had earned the sobriquet 'Village of the Bloody Mist'.

Despite the brutal nature of his reign, the man came off as a soft spoken and mild natured man. An extremely deceptive front, if there ever was one.

"Mizukage-sama, I have something very important to bring to your notice," the chunin muttered quietly as he entered and bowed down.

Yagura looked at the man as he quickly handed over the request form. As he scanned the form, Yagura was intrigued.

"Summon the client, I shall discuss this personally with him, and if I find it suitable, I shall grant his request," the Mizukage declared as the man bowed and left hurriedly.

"Come out, Zabuza, Chojuro," the Mizukage spoke softly, and instantly, two men appeared behind him. The famed members of the seven swordsmen of the mist, Momochi Zabuza and Chojuro. Both of them were the newest members of the famed organization and as such were assigned as the guards of the Mizukage.

As the two young men took their place behind their Kage, the door opened and the client came in. He was a striking looking man, around 30 years old, and had blond hair and blue eyes with three whisker marks on each cheek. He was attired simply, in a black kimono, and a white Haori draped over it.

"Greetings, Mizukage-dono," the man spoke as he entered and the Mizukage quietly pointed towards a chair inviting the man to sit.

"Kyoraku…Shunsui, is it? Shunsui-san, you have requested the services of two of our best shinobi, preferably even those of the Seven Swordsmen. May I know the reason as to why?" the Mizukage asked softly as the eyes of Zabuza and Chojuro went wide. Hiring two of the seven swordsmen at the same time would put a dent in the budget of even one of the five major hidden villages. What was this guy up to?

"Mizukage-dono, it is quite simple. I am a healer who specializes in rare medicines. As such, I need a very rare herb that grows near the isles of Hainan at the borders of your province, and the terrain in which it grows is inaccessible to anybody other than a shinobi. That is all," the man spoke quietly.

"I see," the Mizukage nodded while he analyzed the man. There was something off about him; no healer possessed enough resources to hire two of the Shinobi swordsmen at once, because if there existed such a personage, he would certainly have known. This man was hiding something.

"What exactly is this herb?" the Mizukage asked as the man narrowed his eyes.

"It is a rare herb, which possesses chakra on its own, and a specific medicine that I prepare needs it, for it is one of the major ingredients. It is an herb which when treated with the specific formula I possess will create a medicine which can instantly replenish a human body's blood supply completely and purge it of all impurities, including any poisons," the man replied quietly.

"I see," the Mizukage became silent as he pondered the ramifications while his two bodyguards were thunderstruck at hearing about such a medicine. It would be a god send to any shinobi.

"I am afraid I cannot grant that request, Kyoraku-san," the Mizukage spoke softly as the man narrowed his eyes, "Unless…," the Mizukage left his words hanging.

"Unless I hand over a copy of the formula for creating that medicine, is it not?" the man replied while the Mizukage sat up straighter.

"Do not be surprised, Mizukage-dono, I expected as much. Very well, I agree, but in return, I want your assurance that you will send two of your seven swordsmen. You see, the reason why I need ninja for this is because, every year at the time when this herb blooms, Kusagakure also sends its ninja to steal all the samples of this herb, and I cannot allow that to happen," the man paused as the Mizukage hardened his eyes.

"You mean to say that Kusagakure knows of this as well?" the Mizukage asked quietly.

"Hai. For the last 4 years, all the people I have sent to retrieve the herb have been killed by Kusa ninja, who desire this herb zealously. That is the reason why I have been forced to hire ninja of my own," the man spoke quietly.

"Very well," the Mizukage spoke in a chilly tone as Zabuza and Chojuro winced, "Now, as regards payments, an S-rank mission, specifically one of this nature, will cost quite a sum, but since you are willing to share your medicine research with us, we will give you a discount of 20 percent. Is that acceptable?" the Mizukage asked sharply.

"Make it 30 and we have a deal," Kyoraku replied and the Mizukage nodded.

"Very well, I shall make the necessary payments, and Mizukage-dono, please make sure that you send a man with exceptional vision, and I would prefer it if he possesses the ability to see chakra. I know that some ninja have that ability. It might help your men, because that way, it will be easily located. It is the only plant in the world with black colored chakra, according to my research," the man spoke and left as the Mizukage nodded slowly.

As soon as the man left, the Mizukage spoke softly, "Zabuza, get _Ao, _I have a mission for him and you. Chojuro, find out everything about this Kyoraku Shunsui. I find myself intrigued. It is not everyday when a mere healer who possesses enough resources to hire the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu appears in front of us. I want to know everything there is worth knowing about this man," the Mizukage ordered as the two men vanished.

In the corner, Kyoraku Shunsui who was watching the discussion vanished with a small smirk on his face. _I guess that impulsion technique I copied from Shisui was successful after all. He is sending Ao just as I wanted him to. It seems that he is losing his hold on the Sanbi, otherwise he would have caught me spying on him,_ the man thought as he vanished noiselessly while the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi, the Yondaime Mizukage, never realized that he had been manipulated the whole time.

Once he appeared inside the safety of his home, his visage slowly melted to reveal the slender female form of Isane Uchiha.

Isane Uchiha had just hired the seven swordsmen of Kirigakure with the stolen funds she had appropriated from the Hyuuga clan. Kyoraku was actually the adult form of Naruto Uzumaki in her previous life; a perfect disguise for no one knew the adult form of the old Naruto (Her form in her previous life) in this world. She was so lost in her thoughts, that her concentration slipped, and she did not notice Zetsu who was watching everything from a hidden corner.

_Madara must know of this,_ Zetsu silently thought as he vanished, not seeing the look of surprise and recognition on Isane's face at his departure.

* * *

**AMEGAKURE, ONE DAY LATER,**

"Madara, Kisame has sent word, it seems that your work in that village will be delayed. Apparently, Kirigakure has just received a major client who has handed them a very important mission," Pein spoke softly as Madara nodded absent-mindedly.

"What seems to be the case?" Konan asked curiously.

"Apparently, someone has hired the services of two of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu," Pein spoke quietly.

"That is quite a feat," Madara remarked idly. He knew, after all he had been the Mizukage once.

"It was the Uchiha girl," Zetsu spoke softly as he emerged inside the room.

"What?" Madara asked sharply as the white half of Zetsu appeared in front of him.

"Isane Uchiha disguised herself as a male, and hired the seven swordsmen of Kirigakure, to find that very same herb she has sent Shisui Uchiha to get for her in the first place," Zetsu reported while everybody else digested the news.

"Interesting! What could her motive be?" Konan pondered as everybody became silent.

"It is extremely taxing, to tail her constantly. Her teleportation technique is indeed extraordinary, perhaps superior even to yours. She moved from Kirigakure to Konohagakure within five minutes approximately. I was forced to split myself to follow her, and even then I am not as fast as her, but I was somehow able to tail her. Besides, I believe she will soon discover my presence. I will not be able to continue this for much longer," Zetsu reported to Madara who looked pensive. Pein and Konan frowned at hearing Zetsu's declaration.

"Who did Yagura choose?" Madara asked quietly waving aside Zetsu's remarks, focusing upon his new target's motives.

"Momochi Zabuza and _Ao_," the man replied as Madara gave a hearty laugh.

"Madara?" Pein asked in surprise as he saw the founder of their organization laugh hysterically.

"That girl never ceases to amuse me; I should have realized this, she truly is devious," Madara spoke with mirth in his tone as the others looked surprised.

"What do you mean?" Konan asked as Madara removed a cube from his robes.

"That is one of Zetsu's recording devices," Pein pointed out shrewdly as Madara activated the cube.

Instantly, the discussion of the Hyuuga clan council which had been recorded in entirety played out and for the next twenty minutes, the other three watched it quietly. A quiet silence descended upon the chambers as the recording ended.

"Most informative, but clearly of no relevance to us, Madara," Konan spoke up after some time as she looked at the man.

"No Konan, you fail to see the relevance," Pein spoke as he eyed Madara, "It was her, wasn't it?" he asked softly.

Madara nodded.

"Wait, you mean to tell me, that she managed to infiltrate the Hyuuga manor, and then hid herself from the Byakugan so effectively, that the entire Hyuuga clan failed to notice her, and then she made off with two thirds of the clan's wealth? Why?" Konan asked in confusion.

"Besides being an excellent job of infiltration, easily a task of S-rank caliber, I suppose that it was to gain enough resources with which she could hire the seven swordsmen," Pein replied as her eyes went wide.

"But that is not all, is it?" Pein asked Madara who shook his head.

"No, the real reason, I now realize, is that she needed to hire _Ao_; but, how she came to know of his specialty is a mystery," Madara spoke softly as he considered the events.

"What is so special about this _Ao_? Surely, he is a member of the swordsmen, but why are both you and the girl so interested in him?" Pein asked quietly.

"Ao," Madara replied quietly, "is the only person in the world, who is not a member of the Hyuuga clan and yet possesses the Byakugan. During my reign as the Mizukage, he was a novice, who managed to kill a Hyuuga and somehow transplant one of the dead man's Byakugan into one of his eyes, it is one of the most closely guarded secrets of Kirigakure," the ancient Uchiha spoke as Pein's eyes widened.

"Ingenious!" Pein replied with admiration rife in his tone, "She is doing all this to discredit the Hyuuga and to prevent them from winning this election. She stole two thirds of the wealth of the Hyuuga, to deny them the ability to influence the representative of the daimyo of Hi no Kuni, and at the same time dealt a huge blow to their credibility. And now, using their stolen wealth, she has hired a man who is clearly the greatest threat to the Hyuuga and has steered him into a confrontation with Shunshin no Shisui, a confrontation, which even with his skill, the rogue Byakugan wielder cannot win. And when that happens, and the knowledge that the Curse seal of the Hyuuga can be broken is revealed, the Hyuuga clan will lose all credibility and lose the election. No matter what they offer, this disclosure will finish them off. A truly devious plan," the leader of Akatsuki spoke softly, while Konan mutely muttered 'My God' in astonishment.

"Quite a plan, isn't it?" Madara spoke with a chuckle, admiring the Machiavellian maneuver as everybody composed themselves.

"She managed to fool the Mizukage, deceived the entire Hyuuga clan, and now is steering the Uchiha clan to victory. Why? I was under the impression that she hates the Uchiha," Konan muttered softly.

"She does, she is doing all this with an ulterior motive, although, I do not know why, yet," Madara admitted grudgingly.

"I beg your pardon, but something is occurring that you need to know," Zetsu spoke as he became still while the others halted their discussion and turned towards the master spy.

As everybody watched him, the black half of his body came out from the ground and joined his white half which had been in the chamber all the time.

"I would like to inform you that Uchiha Shisui is now engaged in battle with Ao, and Momochi Zabuza of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu. And Uchiha Isane is in the area as well, observing the battle in secret," Zetsu spoke as everybody became silent.

"Very well," Madara spoke and stood up, "I think it is high time that I meet her. She will not escape from me, not this time. Zetsu, Pein, Konan, you will all accompany me; we shall hold our own recruitment test as well while this issue resolves itself," Madara smirked as the leadership tier of Akatsuki got up as well.

Isane Uchiha had no idea that in the next few hours, she would face Madara Uchiha, Zetsu, Pein and Konan at the same time and by the time she realized that, it would be too late. Because, after meeting the leaders of Akatsuki face to face, one either joined the Akatsuki or perished. There was no other alternative.


	7. Chaos Arc Chapter 3: Test

Shisui Uchiha was not having a very good day. Scratch that, he was having the shittiest day ever in his life. And all because of Itachi's little princess. When she had said that the herb she needed was difficult to get, he had scoffed. After all, how hard could getting an itty bitty little plant turn out to be? Now, he was not as sure as he reached the area where it was located.

Okay, he had to infiltrate the borders of Kirigakure, that in itself was a major case of headache and if he was seen by the Kiri Hunter Nin Patrols, he was in for a shitload and a half of trouble. All right, scratch that, he had bypassed them and had somehow managed to arrive at the location to find out his objective, and that was when he had snapped.

She had said it would be tough. And he had expected something a bit tough, something like a rough terrain and an inhospitable weather, that was what he had been expecting, but not this. Not what appeared to be the world's deepest ravine, which at first look appeared to be at least 1,000 feet deep. And to add to an already miserable list, it was a slot canyon, with completely flat and smooth walls, with no footholds. And the final nail in the coffin was the fact that it was now raining. Definitely not what he had expected. At that moment, Shisui Uchiha finally lost his temper and swore, with words which clearly were not for the ears of the moral majority.

"I should get Hazard Pay for this, Itachi's princess sure knows how to make a guy's life miserable," Shisui grumbled as he began his descent into the Canyon.

Somehow, with a Herculean effort, the Uchiha Prodigy managed to reach the bottom after a few hours, which included many near fatal falls, and misses, as well as narrowly missing being impaled by Stalagmites and Stalactites which looked sharper than Kunai's made by diamonds, by the way.

Finally, he managed to gain the herb, and sealed it into a stasis scroll and began his climb up. After another harrowing ordeal, the young man finally reached the cliff and let out a whoop of joy.

At that moment, a voice came out behind him, "_Well done; now please hand over that herb, and allow us to kill you, and please keep it professional and avoid making a scene_."

Shisui whirled around and turned to see two shinobi standing thirty meters away from him, wearing Kirigakure headbands, and holding ridiculously large swords in their hands. Very ridiculously large swords, to be precise. And only one organization in Kirigakure had members who carried such huge swords. The Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu.

"Oh, come on," the Uchiha swore and looked up at the sky and screamed, "This is not funny!! At least, some help would be appreciated here, you know!!"

"Excitable little fellow, isn't he, Zabuza?" Ao asked quietly as he looked at Zabuza who was snickering at the antics of Shisui.

"Yeah, well, I really wasn't expecting ninja from Konoha, we were told Kusagakure ninja might come here, but not Konoha nin. You suppose he took them out?" Zabuza asked as he brought his huge cleaver out.

"Maybe, maybe not," Ao muttered quietly. _He seems familiar, I recognize his profile from the Bingo Book, but I can't recall his name. Who is he? _

Zabuza meanwhile swung into action. He rapidly made some seals and muttered, "Kirigakure no Jutsu" and instantly, a thick fog began to roll around the area. Soon, the area around Shisui was completely covered with a thick fog which already made the hazardous terrain even more dangerous.

Ao quietly activated the Byakugan, and instantly, the chakra of Shisui was clearly visible to him.

"Maybe I will make this quick, Konoha tree hugger, prepare to die!" Zabuza's voice, amplified and distorted due to the fog, came out and Shisui swore at his new predicament.

"Zabuza, twelve feet to the right, seven feet up," Ao spoke quietly and instantly Zabuza vanished and appeared behind Shisui, while his blade moved and struck at the neck of Shisui.

As Ao watched, the blade struck at Shisui's neck, but he remained intact. There was not even a scratch on the neck, but instead the blade passed through it. Suddenly, another chakra figure appeared behind Zabuza, and Ao screamed out loud, "Zabuza, behind you!!" at which Momochi Zabuza just barely avoided a lethal strike at his neck, as he used the substitution technique and escaped by a hairline's breadth while a log peppered with Kunai fell down harmlessly.

_How? That Chakra network is still active, but it is not a shadow clone, then what is it? Shit!! It is an illusion, A MIRAGE!! Damn it, I should have realized it, he is Shisui of the Uchiha Clan, Shunshin no Shisui!! What is he doing here? _Ao thought frantically as he jumped back and brought his own sword out.

"Zabuza, get back, he is Shunshin no Shisui, of the Uchiha clan of Konoha, be careful," Ao warned his younger colleague as Zabuza's eyes widened and he hastened back to the side of his partner.

"So, you recognized me after all, I am flattered," Shisui's voice came out in a cold and guttural tone; it creeped out the two men who hastily began to re-evaluate the situation.

"Kai," Shisui muttered as he made the Ox seal, and instantly the fog lifted.

"What is an Uchiha of Konoha doing here?" Ao asked Shisui who was looking at him in a very calculative manner.

"That is not important," Shisui replied as he threw away his cloak and drew out his ninjaken (short sword).

The very next moment, Ao used Shunshin and appeared behind Shisui and slashed with his blade, but instead he hit only air as Shisui vanished and reappeared behind him and he hastily moved his huge blade behind his back to parry Shisui's attack.

"A Shunshin of that level will not work against me. But you are quite skilled, to move that huge blade so quickly," Shisui retorted calmly as he stepped back. He had one eye constantly trained on Zabuza as well, after all he was facing two members of the seven swordsmen and he could not take this engagement lightly.

"Tell me, how is it that a ninja of Kirigakure like you came to possess the Byakugan?" Shisui spoke coldly as he evaded another attack by the Kiri Ninja.

"You will not live long enough to know that, Shunshin no Shisui," Ao, the member of the seven swordsmen of the mist of Kirigakure retorted as he hefted his huge sword back to deliver another blow.

Unknown to either of them, Isane was closely monitoring their battle waiting for the time to strike. For her plan to work, Ao needed to die, and his corpse needed to be brought to Konoha. It was crucial for her plan to stop Danzo, and at the same time necessary for preventing the Hyuuga from winning the election.

Meanwhile, Shisui activated his Sharingan and activated his mind control technique subtly, and targeted Zabuza who froze instantly.

After a moment, Zabuza entered the fray and attacked, but not Shisui, instead his target was Ao.

As the two huge blades clashed, sparks came out, and Ao jumped back.

"Zabuza, what the fuck are you doing?" he yelled as he looked at his younger companion's face.

"He is under my control," Shisui replied calmly as he stood at a distance, at which Ao stilled. He used his Byakugan and looked at Zabuza, only to notice that another chakra was controlling his colleague's neural synapses, through which his movements were being controlled.

"His mind does not realize what is happening; my technique allows me to completely control another person's movements, and if necessary I can even control their minds thus making them follow my instructions, without making them realize that they are obeying my commands," Shisui spoke as Zabuza calmly charged Ao again, while the older man was pushed back by the relentless assault of his younger companion.

_Shit, what a power!! How can such a shitty ability like that exist? It totally goes against all forms of fair play and combat!! No wonder their clan is so feared!! _

Unknown to all of them, at that moment, Isane made a small sign and Ao froze as his body became rigid. He instantly realized that he had been placed under a paralysis technique.

_Shit, somebody else is……_ at that moment, Zabuza's cleaver cleanly struck and decapitated his head, and like that, Ao, one of the senior members of the seven swordsmen of the mist was dead.

Shisui Uchiha never realized that Ao had been paralyzed for a second by somebody else's technique and that someone else was present in the area, observing them quietly, as he was preoccupied with another problem, namely fighting two members of the seven swordsmen of mist.

At Ao's death, Shisui released his technique as a horrified Zabuza Momochi realized what had happened. Instantly, the man used the Shunshin and vanished, leaving his companion's dead body to the enemy.

"Wow, talk about being ruthless, he did not even wait for his friend's dead body to become cold," Shisui muttered snidely as he neared Ao's corpse. As he looked at the man's corpse, Shisui realized what an opportunity he had at his finger tips. If the knowledge that the Byakugan was not safe was revealed, then the Hyuuga would be dealt a humiliating blow, and their (Uchiha) chances at the election would increase. And if he was the one responsible, then well, the implications needed not to be said.

He sealed Ao's corpse in another stasis scroll and began to make his way out.

As Shisui Uchiha finally left the area, Isane heaved a sigh of relief. Her gamble had worked at last. Suddenly, a voice came out behind her, "Now that the children have left, can we get down to business, my dear?"

She whirled around, only to receive the greatest shock of her life.

Surrounding her from all sides were none other than Uchiha Madara, Zetsu, Pein and Konan. She was effectively boxed in.

* * *

At that moment, the shinigami who was watching from above sighed in despair as she saw the situation.

_So, it has come to this. I guess I must do what I must. Forgive me, dear girl, for I fear, that I have just ruined your life once more with what I am about to do. However, I swear upon my divinity, when all this is over, I shall repay in full all that I have taken from you. __**But, he must perish**__, **there is no other alternative. **If you are to take Itachi's place, then the events that occurred in his life must occur in yours. Balance must be maintained at all costs. __**They will be the catalyst;**__ and that will be the turning point. I shall unlock your abilities to their fullest potential, and implant the knowledge of how to utilize them in your mind subconsciously, although you will not realize that now. I do what I do, for even I cannot go against Kami-sama's wishes. I only hope that you can forgive me. Much hardships await you in the near future; be strong, my dear child._

* * *

Meanwhile, suddenly, Isane gripped her head as a shooting pain erupted in her head and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

_So, my abilities have finally matured, and in the nick of time as well, I will need everything I have just to survive_, the girl thought, not realizing just what had really occurred.

Madara looked at the girl, and spoke carefully, "Uchiha Isane, I have had my eye on you for quite a while. You do know who I am, right?"

"Uchiha Madara," Isane replied calmly as the man nodded and leaned against a tree, while his three companions stood around quietly.

"Yes, tell me, how did you know who I was?" Madara asked as he stared at the girl in curiosity.

"I didn't, at least until now, but thanks for confirming it anyway, and proving that my suspicions were not unfounded," she replied glibly as Madara was taken aback at the reply, as the implications of her words sunk in.

After a second, he roared with laughter admiring her cleverness. She, a mere girl of 15 had caught him, the immortal Uchiha Madara, off guard!! He had definitely chosen well.

"Interesting, well then, can you please tell me, why you suspected that it was me, when I appeared in front of you that night?" he asked after a moment with a thin smile adorning his face.

"Simple, I recognized the mutated iris in your eyes for what it was, and instinctively knew who you were. After all, I am the only one in the clan after you to achieve the same stage. I am a medic after all, and the Mangekyo Sharingan leaves unique physical characteristics on the body, which can be easily identified by a fellow Mangekyo user, besides I never truly thought you were dead. After all, your dead body was never recovered, and therefore unlike the others in my village, I never deluded myself into believing you were dead; although I thought you would now be frail and old and living in seclusion, but I realized that was not the case, when you appeared in front of me that day, but I had no means to confirm my doubts, until today that is," she replied as Madara absorbed that information not realizing that she was telling a well crafted and carefully rehearsed lie.

"Fascinating. You are every bit as talented as I imagined you to be, dear girl. Now, onto my next question. How did you gain the Mangekyo? How did you bypass the requirement for obtaining it, when I clearly know for a fact that you have no friends? You do understand, right?"

"Deeds of desperation, have unique rewards," Isane replied stiffly as Madara raised his head and stared at her accusingly.

"Fine," she sighed, "When I read of the Mangekyo Sharingan in my mother's notes, I realized that the act of killing a friend was not really necessary to obtain it. The main trigger for the Mangekyo is the neural impulse which your brain receives when under strenuous guilt. I simply managed to replicate that neural impulse with research conducted by my medical studies, and like that, I activated my own Mangekyo Sharingan without actually resorting to murdering anyone. A very strenuous process I admit, but the rewards were equally beneficial. I needed that ability to safeguard my brother from assailants, so there," she spoke stiffly as she stared at the ancient Uchiha, praying to Kami that he believe her.

Oblivious to what was going on in her mind, Madara was inwardly dancing a jig. His suspicions had been proven right . This girl would really be a God-send to him and his organization.

"Now, why are you following me? What do you want with me?" Isane asked as she looked at Madara who removed his mask and smiled.

"Well, you see, my organization desperately needs someone with your talents, so you might say that I have come to recruit you. These fine people standing here, are the members of my organization, 'The Akatsuki," Madara spoke as he pointed towards Pein, Konan and Zetsu.

_So, I was right, he does want to recruit me._

"I am sorry, but I must refuse," Isane spoke and turned around when Konan appeared in front of her.

"Please tell your companions to move, otherwise I will not be responsible for their safety," Isane spoke in an irritated voice as Madara smirked.

"Convince them to leave you yourself, I have no objections," Madara replied genially as Konan activated her Origami techniques.

Isane instantly activated her Mangekyo Sharingan and activated her first Mangekyo Technique.

"Shun Shun Rikka," she muttered and instantly six small spheres of blinding intensity appeared in front of her. They were shaped like small spheres, around the size of children's playing marbles, but each of them had two wings and all of them were golden in color and were floating in the air around her.

Madara looked on interestedly as the girl manifested her powers. Each Mangekyo Sharingan granted its wielders unique powers, and he was curious to see what hers were.

"Kami Shuriken," (Paper Shuriken) Konan muttered and instantly hundreds of Paper Shuriken materialized in front of her and raced towards Isane.

"Santen Kesshun," Isane muttered quickly and instantly two of the spheres moved in front of her and formed a triangular shield of yellow light which covered her completely in all directions. As all the Akatsuki members watched, the paper Shurikens struck the shield and vaporized with a sizzle, much to the surprise of others. Madara sat up a bit straighter, _now this was interesting_.

Unfazed, Konan rapidly made some seals and uttered "Shikigami no mai," (Dance of the Shikigami) and rose into the air as her body morphed into various paper pieces. The paper pieces morphed into various jagged shapes, and raced towards Isane who stood quietly behind her shield. As they struck the shield however, a loud scream came out and the technique dissipated, leaving Konan who appeared to be hurt severely, gasping for breath.

On closer inspection, it appeared that Konan's right arm had been burnt away, leaving a stump which had been cauterized and had turned black in color.

"Konan, step back," Pein muttered and stepped in as Zetsu instantly did the wise thing and moved to Madara's side. As Konan stepped back, Pein turned towards Isane and spoke, "You have harmed my angel. Therefore, as God, my retribution shall fall upon you," the man declared as Isane slapped her forehead in irritation. She had forgotten about Pein's God complex.

As he eyed her, the Deva path pointed his right hand at the shield and uttered the words "Shinra Tensei," and instantly, a massive gravity well appeared in the area she was standing in and crushed everything around her to rubble.

However, Isane stood quietly, safe and sound inside her shield.

"Impossible," Pein muttered in shock as Madara stood up in fascination; _now, this, was beyond interesting. _

"Not impossible for this technique," Isane replied quietly as she stared at the dumbstruck Pein, who was watching her in disguised awe, "Shun Shun Rikka's defensive abilities manifest as the 'Santen Kesshun', or in other words, _The Three Sacred Links Shield, _the shield of the Gods itself. It is the most powerful spiritual shield existing in the heavens. Even Gods cannot penetrate it. **This is the absolute defense**. It rejects all negative events, including all physical, spiritual and mental attacks as well. The area within the shield acts as a separate dimension placing the wielder beyond the reach of all opponents, even Gods," she spoke softly as Pein stepped back reflexively.

"_Even if you are a God_, you will still not be able to penetrate my shield," Isane declared as the self proclaimed God of Amegakure stepped back in shock for the first time in his life, seeing his power fail.

"Truly magnificent, you have far exceeded my expectations, dear girl," Madara spoke as he stepped forward. He was shivering with excitement. Never before had he met such an equal. It made him all the more determined to have her.

"I will make a deal with you, Madara Uchiha, let me go, and I will restore the arm of your female companion," Isane spoke as even Madara's eyes widened.

"That is impossible, even for a medic of your caliber!! Her arm has been burnt away, and even you cannot restore something that has been lost," Zetsu pointed out as she shook her head as if pitying his naiveté and turned to face Madara.

"Do we have an accord?" she asked Madara who nodded stiffly in return.

At that, she moved over to Konan, who had hunched over at the corner, trying to bandage the stump of her arm. Her right forearm and wrist had been completely vaporized and she had been left with one arm after hitting the shield.

As she saw the girl approach, she quietly gazed at the girl who had single-handedly ruined her life as a shinobi, with something akin to morbid fascination. Ignoring her, Isane appeared in front of her, and knelt as she placed her arms above the stump and muttered "Soten Kisshun," and instantly, two more spheres moved in front of her and formed a half-oval barrier of golden light over the injured stump.

Slowly in front of the eyes of the thunderstruck members of the Akatsuki, pieces of the injured woman's arm regenerated, and slowly, but surely, Konan's right arm was regenerated to its proper state.

As the shield fell away and Isane moved back, a surprised Konan flexed her newly regenerated arm and gave a gasp of surprise.

"How……how did you do that?" she asked the girl who shrugged and waved her question aside.

"Yes, please, I too would like to know that," Madara spoke in awe, for probably the first time in decades. Pein and Zetsu were silent as they watched the spectacle.

Isane sighed, "Soten Kisshun is the second ability of the Shun Shun Rikka. While active, the barrier repels all negative events inflicted upon anything within the barrier. No matter how extensive the damage may be, whether used on living beings or inanimate objects, the barrier can restore it to full working order, making it as if the object was never damaged in the first place. It can even resurrect the dead, although I have never used that ability until now. The technique takes longer for more serious injuries, like losing a limb or an organ. But in her case, since it was my Rikka which caused the injury in the first place, it was much quicker," she spoke as Konan's eyes went wide.

"Impossible!! It can't be!! Phenomenon rejection? How did someone like you gain such a power?" Madara asked in shock as he stepped in front of the girl with his eyes alight with wonder.

"Madara, what do you mean by Phenomenon rejection?" Pein asked as he too quietly moved near the man.

"It is a technique said to be used by the Rikudo Sennin. A myth. Apparently, with this power, anything is possible," Madara replied excitedly waving his arms around, as even Pein stopped short and turned around to glare at the girl in surprise.

"Anything?" Zetsu asked curiously.

"Yes. Her ability allows her to limit, reject or deny things that happen to a certain object. It allows her to make things as they were before anything happened to them. This power is even greater than turning back time or reverting space. As a result, she can overturn decisions made by Kami himself. Her ability impinges upon Kami's territory. It is said that the art of medical Ninjutsu was devolved through this ability. She is without a doubt the greatest healer in the world. Compared to her powers, I now realize that Tsunade of the Sannin is like a genin against her with regards to medical abilities. Truly, a magnificent ability," Madara spoke as everybody digested that fact.

"How? How could a young girl like her have such a power?" Pein asked as he eyed her in fascination.

"I know not, but it is clear that we do not have the ability to force her. If my suspicions are correct, she still has one ability left. There were six spheres, two were used to defend, two to restore, and the other two, if I guess correctly are used for offense, is it not, Isane-chan?" Madara asked as he turned towards her.

Arching her eyes at the use of the honorific, Isane muttered snidely, "Koten Zanshun," and instantly the last two spheres moved in front of her and merged to form a small golden discus with serrated edges. And as they watched, the discus rushed towards a tree, and struck. Instantly, the tree vanished, leaving no traces whatsoever. It was as if it had never existed in the first place.

"You are correct," Isane muttered as she turned towards Madara, "Koten Zanshun is the offensive ability of Shun Shun Rikka, and anything it strikes is erased from existence, and there is no defense against it. Even immortal beings are not immune to it," she added as an after thought, and for the first time, Madara Uchiha turned serious.

"I am a man of my word, and therefore, I will honor my word. You can leave, but know this, our invitation remains. You are free to join us anytime. Remember, Konoha will never accept you, no matter what you offer them," Madara spoke as she nodded quietly.

As they all watched, she made a seal and vanished into thin air leaving a deathly silence in her wake.

"Madara?" Pein asked as the founder of Akatsuki looked pensive.

"It appears that I have gravely underestimated her abilities. We clearly do not have the power to force her. Her powers are equal to ours, if not even superior. I expected her to be powerful, but not this powerful," Madara spoke softly.

"She truly is blessed by the Gods, for otherwise, how could she gain such abilities?" Konan spoke softly as Madara absent mindedly nodded in agreement.

"Do not forget, she still has her secrets. She was just using one ability of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Her Shun Shun Rikka is just one ability, after all, broken down into three parts just as I suspected. Her transportation technique is another, and she is yet to reveal her third and greatest ability. I almost shudder to think what will happen, were she to gain an eternal Sharingan like mine," Madara sighed as he paced around.

"Zetsu, cease surveillance on her, do not take any unnecessary risks," he added as an afterthought, as the spy nodded, shaken to his core at what he had witnessed.

"What do we do?" Pein asked after a while.

"Force is clearly not an option. Either she would kill us, or we would kill her, but in the end all of us will perish, if we engage her in combat. At any rate, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is now out of our reach. The effort to gain him would cause the annihilation of the entire Akatsuki itself. Pein, concentrate on Hanzo and leave her to me," Madara ordered as he moved forward.

"What do you intend to do?" Pein asked as the founder of Akatsuki paused.

"Since force is not an option, we must look to other avenues. At any rate, I shall not return until I have convinced her to join us, do not worry," Madara Uchiha spoke softly as he vanished; leaving three very worried followers behind.


	8. Chaos Arc Chapter 4: Catalyst

* * *

When the Uchiha clan elders learnt of the unexpected side results of Shisui's mission, they didn't waste any time and hastily using their powers as a major clan, called for an emergency council meeting, and presented Ao's corpse. Needless to say, it was as if a nuclear explosion had been set off inside the village. The Hyuuga were screaming bloody outrage and all sorts of wild theories were thrown about like confetti on a parade day. Finally, Sarutobi took rein of the situation, and called for a grand council meeting to be chaired by the Daimyo of the Fire country itself, to discuss the situation within the week.

* * *

Hiashi Hyuuga had been subjected to quite a brutal week. First of all, a theft in the Hyuuga clan compound, which had robbed their clan of two thirds of its wealth, and now this. Honestly, it was as if the fates were conspiring against their clan. How was he to know that some ninja from Kirigakure managed to get lucky and was able to crack the cursed seal of his clan, which had been claimed as inviolate by all the shinobi villages in the world? Damn the Uchiha! How the hell did they manage to know of this anyway?

But all of his thoughts on that matter were of little importance to him right now, as he found himself sitting at the far end of a ten meter long conference table, looking at the face of the Daimyo himself, who was flanked by the Hokage and Danzo on each side. All around him were seated the inner council of the Daimyo as well as the ten members of the council of Konoha, the inner circle that alone made strategic decisions affecting the fate of Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure no Sato respectively.

The Daimyo shifted his gaze to Hiashi. His face gave nothing away. It never did, unless he wished it to – which was rare enough. The Daimyo was the perfect politician. He had first gained prominence as an efficient administrator under his father's reign, and then when he had ascended to the throne, he had gained a reputation as a man who always produced results. And it mattered not to him what he needed to do to gain those results, the fact that Hiashi was most afraid of.

"Lord Hyuuga," the Daimyo began, "We have been granted evidence by the council of Konoha, about this 'fantastic error' through which one of the most precious bloodlines of Hi no Kuni was allowed to fall into enemy hands. _We are not pleased._ Nor are we pleased with this fantastic error of judgment which you made; when you guaranteed upon the honor of your clan, that the safety of your bloodline had been guaranteed by the curse seal of the Hyuuga clan. And now we find that it has been violated. You may remember that it was because of your insistence and guarantees that your clan was exempted from taking the loyalty seals devised by the village which are placed on all the shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, including all the other major bloodline clans to guarantee the safety of their bloodlines, which are updated yearly. We wish to know, from you, what measures were taken by your clan to prevent this infamy from taking place?"

There was no anger in the Daimyo's voice, but Hiashi knew it was there. This "fantastic error" could be used by the members of the council of Konoha to disassociate themselves from him, by laying this entire event under his feet to save their own skins. After all, he had not made himself any friends in the council by ingratiating himself to them. True, the Uchiha too were generally disliked by the council, but they had submitted themselves to the authority of the village unlike his clan, and that was the problem.

Hiashi had prepared himself for this over the last few days. He was a man who had lived through months of intensive combat operations and had seen much death. If his body was softer now, his mind was not. Whatever his fate may be, Hiashi was determined to meet it with dignity. "Lord Daimyo, this unfortunate accident is an isolated incident, and I cannot imagine –"

"Hiashi-san," Danzo interrupted, "we presume that you also never imagined the unbelievable fact that your seal could be violated. You now expect us to trust your views on this incident?" Fairly speaking, that was rather hypocritical of Danzo, since he knew that the seal could be violated, when Isane had operated upon his man to give him the Byakugan.

The reason why he was angry was, because of this incident, the village would take more stringent measures to protect all bloodlines, and even if the Uchiha girl fulfilled her part of their bargain, he would no longer be able to gain the Byakugan, if a new method to protect it was devised. For a while, he had wondered whether this too was a part of the girl's plan to deceive him, but he had shrugged it off, once he had read the report of autopsy performed by his men discreetly inside the village hospital without bringing it to the notice of the village establishment. The method used by Ao had been a crude, brute-force technique, instead of the delicate procedure conducted by the Uchiha girl. He had compared both, and deduced that she could not be the one behind it, besides, the man's Byakugan had been implanted 13 years ago, according to the reports made by his men, and unless they were wrong, which they usually were not, that meant that Uchiha Isane at that time had been a mere child of 3 years, so it was ridiculous to the extreme to think that it was her who had done this.

"The most disturbing thing of all," began Lord Hotohori, the chief advisor of the Daimyo, "is how tolerant the administration of Konohagakure has been towards your clan in particular. It is amazing, particularly in the view that the other major bloodlines, like the Uchiha, Yamanaka and Nara were forced to use loyalty seals devised by the village which are regularly changed, while your clan alone has been left to its own devices. This _obvious_ aberration from policy – does not make the judgment of your clan appear very sound," he spoke as he turned towards the Hokage with an accusatory look in his eyes.

"It is correct that such a lenience has been granted, but my hands were tied," interrupted Sarutobi, "but you will also find in the reports that I and most of the clans in the village opposed this decision, but my hands were forced by the late advisors, and I was not allowed to act against it, despite my wishes."

The atmosphere in the room turned tense as the Hokage spoke those words.

"We have already considered that," the Daimyo replied. "It is true that in this case there is enough blame for more than one person." Hiashi didn't move, but the message was explicit: his effort to separate his clan from this scandal had failed. The Daimyo didn't care how many heads it took to get results.

"Lord Daimyo," Hiashi objected, "the efficiency of the Hyuuga seal –"

"Efficiency?" Danzo said. "Efficiency. You talk about efficiency when you and your clan were subjected to burglary like common peasants? Especially since the said thieves made off with more than two thirds of your clan wealth? You claim that you can protect the sanctity of your bloodline, when you cannot even guarantee the safety of your own residence, and yet you have the audacity to claim that your enclave is the safest place in Konoha after the Hokage's tower? And may I remind you, that your clan explicitly requested that the Uchiha Military Police be kept away from the Hyuuga enclave since you stated that your clan was capable of protecting itself, and did not need the services of the Village Military Police, which has served this village with distinction since its inception. What justification do you offer now, since it is only your clan that now bears the responsibility for this lapse of security? And that is not ignoring the fact that you have failed to safeguard your bloodline as well!!"

If the atmosphere in the room was tense before, it now turned electric as nearly half the members in the council including the Daimyo stood up in surprise as they gazed at the reddening Hyuuga clan head.

"Is this true?" the Daimyo asked in surprise as he turned towards Hiashi. The man's silence was answer enough, as murmurs began to rise throughout the chambers.

"Mother of God, Man!! What else have you not told us, Hiashi?" Shikaku Nara asked in surprise as he contemplated the fact that somebody had managed to rob the mighty Hyuuga clan of all things.

"More importantly, how did you come to know about this, Danzo-san?" Inoichi Yamanaka asked as he turned towards the old advisor while everybody sat down and composed themselves.

"My paramount goal has always been to ensure the safety of Konoha, therefore, before my ANBU division was disbanded (?), I had taken enough precautions to ensure that if anything noteworthy were to happen, I would be among the ones first to know. While, I do respect the privacy of others; I do interfere when the safety of Konoha is compromised. That is the one thing that I will never compromise upon, no matter what steps I have to take or whomsoever's privacy I may have to forcibly intrude upon," the old man spoke harshly and no one disputed that. Danzo's patriotism was the stuff of legends, despite his questionable methods and even the Daimyo acknowledged that with a small nod.

"This is disturbing. The abilities of the Byakugan are known to all of us, and if the knowledge that the Hyuuga clan has been subjected to theft like peasants leaks out, it will cause enormous loss of face to Konoha and consequently to Hi no Kuni itself. Who could have done this?" Lord Hotohori spoke gravely as everybody became still.

"There is no doubt that this was done by a Kage – level shinobi. Despite what has occurred, we all know the abilities of the Byakugan, and yet the news of such an event will shake the confidence of not just the clients of Konoha, but our own shinobi forces. I can understand why it was kept secret from the public, _but what I do not understand is why this was kept secret from the council of the fire nation_, especially when this event has grave implications for the security of our entire nation?" another minister pointed out.

Everyone present knew the answer, although nobody dared to say it out. With the elections around, if this had become public, like it unfortunately had, the Hyuuga would lose all chances of winning it, which they most likely had, by now.

"Coming back to the question, we would like to know whether the barbarians of Kirigakure have managed to breed this bloodline in their own village?" the Daimyo asked quietly as everybody held their breath. Hiashi was praying to the Gods that it shouldn't be so, because if it certainly was so, then his life was certainly forfeit. The Daimyo would never pardon such a grave travesty, and his clan would most definitely be punished.

"Unfortunately, we cannot answer that question, Lord Daimyo, since we cannot openly investigate in Kirigakure, and our only option now is to have the corpse examined by a specialist medic, and that is where our problems begin," Shikaku pointed out quietly, "Now only a medic of Tsunade-sama's caliber can deduce that by examining the renegade's corpse, and she unfortunately is not in the village," he spoke quietly as everybody stilled.

The Daimyo turned towards Sarutobi, "You mean to tell me that in the entire village of Konoha, despite all these years, there is not yet a single healer in your ranks who is on par with Tsunade-hime's standards? Has Konohagakure fallen so low that it does not have a single competent medic in its ranks?" he asked icily as the shinobi present in the chambers turned pale. The Daimyo was losing his temper, and that definitely was not a good sign.

After looking at Sarutobi, Danzo took a deep breath as he made his decision. He had been waiting for this. "Lord Daimyo. There is indeed a medic in this village, who has even surpassed Tsunade-hime in the healing arts," he spoke softly as everybody became still.

"What? And why weren't we informed of this?" Lord Hotohori asked sharply. The other shinobi looked sharply at Danzo.

"Because my lord, that girl has not consented to join the Shinobi Ranks of Konoha despite her prodigious skill. Furthermore, she is from the Uchiha clan, and as such, the late advisors were very hostile with her. You know who I am talking about, Lord Hotohori, the girl is Isane Uchiha, the elder sister of the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, whom the late advisors petitioned your Excellency to execute recently," Danzo spoke softly as the atmosphere in the room turned deathly still.

"Fascinating," the Daimyo spoke softly, "We were not aware that the child possessed such skills. Of course, we knew that her mother was a proficient healer as well, since Uchiha Rin was the one who saved our son on the night of the attack of the Kyuubi, before she lost her life. What say you, Lord Hotohori?"

Before the advisor could speak, Hiashi interrupted, "Lord Daimyo, I must protest. That girl is from the Uchiha clan, and as such, given the history between our clans, what is to guarantee that she will be fair in her examinations?" he asked with an acerbic tone.

Many of the people in the room stilled as quite a few mouths fell open, while the others gaped at Hiashi. Instantly, the man realized what a mistake he had made.

"_Are you questioning our judgment, Lord Hyuuga_?" the Daimyo asked softly as Hiashi paled.

"No…no…my lord, I apologize, I was caught in the heat of the moment, and I lost control of my emotions…I apologize…it will never happen again," the man spoke with desperation in his tone. Many of the council members from Konoha were gleefully witnessing the haughty and snobbish head of the Hyuuga clan humble himself, with barely hidden mirth showing on their faces.

"See that it doesn't," the Daimyo spoke curtly and looked at an ANBU standing guard at the door, "Summon Uchiha Isane, and have the corpse of the renegade brought into the adjacent chambers. We wish for her to conduct her examinations in front of the council right now, to ascertain whether the renegade had a chance to spread the Hyuuga bloodline in Kirigakure."

Instantly, the man bowed and vanished with a Shunshin as everybody became silent.

* * *

Soon, Isane was hastily summoned by the ANBU squad which had arrived at her home, and when she learnt of the matter, she hastily entrusted Naruto to Mikoto's care and left with them. Meanwhile, another squad had hastily brought Ao's corpse to the Hokage tower and placed it in the laboratory in the second floor directly below the council chambers, and prepared all items necessary for a forensic examination.

Soon, Isane stood in front of the grand council, where she was subjected to severe scrutiny by the members present. At a nod from the Daimyo, Lord Hotohori stood up, "Uchiha Isane, the grand council is aware that you are a prodigious medic with skills on par with Tsunade-hime of the Densetsu no Sannin. As such, with her absence, the grand council would like you to perform a secondary autopsy on the corpse of the renegade ninja from Kirigakure, and would like to know whether the man had any chance to spread the Hyuuga bloodline in Kirigakure. We wish for you to conduct this autopsy in our presence and submit your impartial findings to the council. What say you?"

Isane nodded. She had anticipated this. She had scoured Kirigakure to find out whether Ao had any children and whether they had any chances of gaining the Byakugan. She had not found anything to confirm her suspicions, but she kept quiet, as she could not reveal that to the council, ever.

"I shall abide by the wishes of the council, but I shall need the assistance of two medics from the village hospital, both to aid me and to authenticate my findings, since I do not wish to be accused of being biased given the history between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha clans," she spoke softly as many of the council members silently approved of the adroit way in which she handled herself. Fugaku smirked silently, now there was no way the Hyuuga could accuse her of being unfair.

"So be it," Hotohori spoke as a thin smile adorned his face.

Soon, in front of the grand council which had relocated itself to the laboratory below the meeting chambers, aided by two medics from the village hospital, Isane began to conduct an autopsy of Ao's corpse.

The entire council watched spellbound as the nearly 16 year old girl quickly and efficiently conducted the autopsy. It was clear to anybody who watched that the medics who were assisting her were in awe of her capabilities but remained silent.

After 27 minutes, she finished as she looked at the council members.

"I am finished, if you would give us five more minutes, I will prepare the official report and submit it for your analysis," she spoke as the Daimyo nodded. "We shall relocate to the conference chambers, then," Danzo spoke quietly as everybody moved out.

Soon, inside the conference chambers an apparent restlessness had set in as everyone eagerly awaited the report. Soon, Isane walked in flanked by the two medics from the hospital.

"Isane Uchiha, please give us your report on this matter," Sarutobi spoke out as everybody leaned forward to hear the details.

"Honored council," she began, "upon initial investigations, we have deduced that this ninja from Kirigakure has been in possession of the Byakugan for more than 13 years," she spoke as everybody exploded.

"**WHAT??"**

"**IMPOSSIBLE!!"**

"**I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS,"** Hiashi Hyuuga bellowed, as everyone in the chambers began to argue indiscriminately, in apparent rage and agitation.

"Silence," Danzo spoke loudly as everyone settled down while Hiashi glared at her ominously. "Are you certain?" Danzo asked after a while.

"I am. If you wish to know exactly, then according to my calculations, he has been in possession of the Byakugan for exactly 13 years, 7 months and 21 days, that is as close to an accurate assessment that I can give. If you can find the corresponding records of fatalities, you might even find from which Hyuuga this eye was transplanted," she replied curtly as a silence descended in the chamber while many gaped at her precision.

"And what is your assessment of this?" Sarutobi asked the two chief medics of the Village hospital as all eyes turned to them.

"Sarutobi-sama," the lead medic began, "we concur with Uchiha-san's assessment. Not only us, but if you were to ask any medic in the world, including even Tsunade-hime, I am certain that nobody will disagree with this assessment," the man spoke as murmurs began.

"Please continue, Isane-san," another minister from the Daimyo's court spoke quietly as she nodded and began, "I am also positive that this Byakugan belongs to a branch house member. Therefore, the grand council is correct in its assessment that the Hyuuga branch seal has been decoded and cracked long ago," she spoke as the mood in the chambers turned darker.

"Impossible, the Hyuuga branch seal is inviolate," Hiashi declared as he stood up, quivering with rage.

"Not so, Lord Hyuuga," Isane spoke quietly, "Sealing techniques have evolved over times, but your clan has been using the same seal since the first shinobi world war. Sealing techniques have evolved drastically since then. If a demon like the Kyuubi itself can be sealed, then what chance does a meager curse seal like the Hyuuga branch seal possess? It is reasonable to assume that a method to counteract your seal would arise, even you should see the logic in this," she spoke curtly as the eyes of many councilors widened upon hearing her words.

"You overstep your bounds," Hiashi snarled, "Besides, I will state this categorically, the Hyuuga bird seal is inviolate. I formally accuse you of fabricating this charge," Hiashi declared flatly as the eyes of everyone widened.

"That is a grave accusation to make, Lord Hyuuga, be aware of your position, do not make it any more precarious than it already is," Hotohori spoke as Fugaku stood up angrily to protest, but was silenced by Isane who shook her head, indicating him to desist.

"If I may, gentlemen," Isane spoke softly, as everybody turned to look at her, as she continued, "Lord Hyuuga, I see that you will never accept it unless you see it with your own eyes. During the examination of the corpse, I deduced the manner in which the renegade Kiri ninja managed to break the Hyuuga seal. Therefore, for the benefit of the council, to prove that I am speaking the truth, I will make this offer. Summon a member of your branch house, and I will remove the curse seal from their forehead, in front of the entire council, _proving_, that I am telling the truth," she spoke calmly as nearly every person in the chamber jumped to his feet. Only Sarutobi, Danzo, Hotohori and the Daimyo remained silent.

"And if you fail," Hiashi asked gravely as everybody turned to her.

"I shall accept any punishment that the council will impose upon me," she spoke as many sharp intakes of breath came about.

Danzo was smiling ferally. This girl was possibly the most brilliant political operator he had ever seen. He knew she could already break the seal, but he couldn't reveal it to the public ever, since it would mean that he would have to admit against breaking many laws, least of which would reveal that his _Ne _was still operating. He instead opted to silently watch as the girl publicly emasculated the Hyuuga clan.

Danzo could see that the royal council of fire nation was trying to reassert its political control over the village, which had been lost to it, since the deaths of Homura and Koharu; no, to reassert its control over the council of Konoha which was largely dominated by the Hyuuga clan. The Hyuuga had become too big, too powerful, and the royal council did not wish to have a clan with so much personal prestige in high command.

And it made Hiashi's position extremely vulnerable. If the girl succeeded in removing the curse seal in front of the council, now, it would herald the end of the Hyuuga clan's dominance in the village's politics, permanently, just like it had happened with the Uchiha, during Uchiha Madara's rebellion sixty years ago. Because, it would also prove that the Hyuuga clan was guilty of gross misjudgment, and they would be forced to pay a humiliating price. Danzo was watching history change, right now, in the council, all because of a simple offer made by a little girl, who wished to prove that she was not lying. But history was often made by such little innocuous events.

"So be it," the Daimyo declared quietly, "Summon a member of the Hyuuga branch house," he ordered as instantly the ANBU in the room left to do so, while Isane stood quietly in the corner.

Both Fugaku and Sarutobi watched uneasily as the ANBU left. Both of them prayed that the girl succeed lest she face the wrath of the Hyuuga clan and the council.

Within a few minutes, the ANBU returned with a Hyuuga branch house member, a boy around nine years old, in fact.

Isane's heart nearly jumped to her mouth as she saw who the ANBU had brought. Of all the people, they had brought a young _Neji Hyuuga. _

"If you would, Isane-san," Lord Hotohori spoke quietly as all eyes turned towards her.

"Before I do so, my lord, I too have a request," she spoke as the eyes of Hiashi narrowed.

"Speak," Hotohori replied as Isane spoke quietly, "Lord Hyuuga has declared that I cannot remove this barbaric seal, and that I will be punished if I am to fail. However, he has failed to consider that I could succeed as well. Therefore, I place this demand in front of the council, if I remove the seal from this child, then the Hyuuga clan must give its word, that they will not put the same seal or any other such binding seal on this child ever again, and they must guarantee the safety of this child, for perpetuity, because I do not wish for this innocent child to suffer in retribution for what I am about to do," she spoke stiffly as many looked at the Daimyo eagerly to await his response.

Fugaku nearly choked as he heard the girl's demands, as he turned towards the Daimyo to see his response as well, hoping that the Daimyo would not get offended.

"So be it," the Daimyo spoke softly, "If you succeed, this child's safety shall be guaranteed. If you do free him from the Hyuuga Juin (seal), we shall take this child into our protection personally, and ensure his upbringing to the members of the Shugonin Jūnishi (The Twelve Guardian Ninja: the personal bodyguards of the Fire Daimyo), and he shall be raised by them and eventually join their ranks," the Daimyo declared as the eyebrows of everyone nearly shot to their hairlines. Hiashi grimaced but held his peace; he could not go against the Daimyo after all.

Isane smiled softly, and moved towards Neji who was looking scared.

"Be at ease, child, after this day, you shall no longer be a slave," she spoke softly, but her words were heard by everyone, who grimaced. Danzo smirked again; the girl was really playing it close, by subtly implicating the Hyuuga once again by uttering the words 'slave' and 'free' and reminding everyone once more of the true nature of the Hyuuga Seal.

Isane slowly used a forced sleep technique on the child, and made him lay on the ground as he fell asleep. She quickly activated the Mangekyo Sharingan and immediately concealed it via a genjutsu and wordlessly activated the Shun Shun Rikka.

Surprised gasps arose from everyone as they watched six blinding spheres of light appear in the air around the girl. Fugaku activated his own Sharingan to analyze the technique, but found that he could not, and clenched his jaws. _Isane had much to answer_.

Hiashi too activated his Byakugan, but instantly yelped in pain and closed it, as the concentration of chakra in the spheres almost blinded him with a stinging intensity.

Isane slowly removed the cloth headband from Neji, and wiped his forehead clean with a wet cloth.

Then quietly, she uttered the words, "Soten Kisshun" and instantly two of the spheres moved over the seal present on Neji's forehead and formed a small oval barrier of golden light which covered it, while many of the council members now walked over to stand behind her to better watch the proceedings. Even Danzo ambled over near her to watch it.

In front of the eyes of the members of the Grand Council, the seal on the boy's forehead slowly began to recede as a strangled gasp arose from the watchers. As they watched, slowly, but surely, in the next three minutes, the cursed seal of the Hyuuga clan vanished from the forehead of Neji Hyuuga.

"**MY GOD!!** She has done it!!" Inoichi Yamanaka whispered as he shot a look of wonder at the girl. The other members silently moved back to their seats.

As everybody moved back, Isane woke Neji up and made him stand up. Everyone could clearly see that the seal was gone.

"Hiashi-san, if you would like to check it yourself," she spoke curtly as all eyes turned towards Hyuuga Hiashi. The man quietly made the seal for activating the cursed seal, but gave a gasp of surprise when nothing happened.

"I believe that proves my point, that the cursed seal of the Hyuuga can indeed be removed," she spoke as she looked at the council.

"Indeed, dear girl, an excellent demonstration indeed," Hotohori nodded as he cast an evaluating look at the girl.

"The seal…is gone?" Neji asked tremulously as he tugged Isane's sleeve.

"Indeed, child, you are no longer bound by the fate of the Hyuuga clan. And as stated, Daimyo-sama himself has agreed to be your patron from now on. You shall now join his personal shinobi guard as well, and live with them, if that is your wish," she spoke as she looked at the Daimyo expectantly.

"Yes," Neji whispered deliriously as the Daimyo smiled softly, and nodded to a member of his personal guard who picked up the child and left the chambers.

"You have lost me my nephew, girl!!" Hiashi thundered as he looked at her in rage.

"It is not my fault that you chose him to be the guinea pig for this demonstration," she retorted coolly as the man snarled and moved towards her.

"Hiashi, control yourself," Sarutobi warned as he half rose from his chair while the ANBU moved to guard Isane. The nearly irate Hyuuga clan head stopped in his tracks and composed himself.

"Coming back to the reports," Hotohori spoke as he cleared his throat, while the excited council members settled down, "It is clear that the Hyuuga curse seal can indeed be broken, and that has been proved. Please continue, Isane-san," Lord Hotohori spoke in a respectful tone which many noticed as the girl nodded.

"Furthermore, on conducting the autopsy," Isane continued as she picked up the sheaf of reports, "we have deduced that the Byakugan possessed by the renegade ninja was indeed from a branch house member, due to certain characteristics," she spoke as Danzo interrupted, "What characteristics?"

"Generally, the Byakugan of the branch house are not as developed as those of the main house, because, as we all know, the branch house members are simply not allowed to completely develop their Byakugan and are denied the rights to learn the advanced forms of Jyuuken; which clearly leads to a weaker Byakugan in potency in the branch house members. This is the policy of the Hyuuga main house, and it is documented in the archives of Konoha. Furthermore, we compared it with the records of medical examinations conducted on Hyuuga Main house members and found that the potency and the development of their eyes were far superior to those compared with the Branch House," she spoke softly as she looked at the council members.

After a pause, Lord Hotohori asked quietly, "In your professional opinion, Isane-san, could this Hyuuga who perished at the hands of this renegade, have survived, if he had been better trained in the Jyuuken? If he had been trained to his fullest potential?"

"I am not qualified to judge that, Lord Hotohori, I am but a medic, not a shinobi. I cannot accurately pass judgment on the combat skills of a Shinobi I have never known, much less about a shinobi who must have been killed when I was but a mere child," Isane replied stiffly as Sarutobi smiled. The girl knew when to stay quiet and not to antagonize her enemies too much; she possessed extraordinary survival instincts it seemed, and many recognized it, although it was subtly displayed as she made her point.

"Lord Hotohori," another minister interrupted, "the girl speaks true. Besides, it is obvious, is it not? The entire world knows that the branch house of the Hyuuga clan are denied the right to learn the advanced Jyuuken arts. And besides, if this Byakugan was taken from a branch house member; especially, since I seem to recall that this renegade happens to be a member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, the equivalent of the Densetsu no Sannin in Kirigakure, it is the obvious conclusion to make, yes? This particular Hyuuga was not strong enough to beat this renegade because he had been denied the right to learn the Jyuuken completely, and I also recall that the Hyuuga forbid their members from learning any other form of shinobi arts as well. So, they send shinobi, who are half trained in their own art, and forbid them from learning any other art which might save their lives. Is it any wonder then, that this Hyuuga lost his life and then allowed his Byakugan to fall into enemy hands?" he concluded as many became silent. Hiashi began to sweat as the tide seemed to turn against him.

"The most important question is," the Daimyo interrupted, "Could this renegade have spread the bloodline to Kirigakure? Is there a possibility, that he himself is a Hyuuga?" the Daimyo asked as everyone fell quiet and looked to Isane.

"Well, coming to the second part, your Excellency, he did not have the cursed seal upon him, but as I have shown, that could have been removed, therefore, we cannot honestly say whether he is indeed a Hyuuga by birth. That question can only be answered by the Hyuuga clan itself," she spoke as all eyes turned to Hiashi.

"No," Hiashi grated out, "this rogue is not a member of the Hyuuga clan," Hiashi replied curtly. He knew that if he answered yes, he would be in even more trouble for admitting that a Hyuuga had actually escaped and joined another village, but thankfully this man was not, and therefore, albeit painfully, Hiashi finally accepted the fact that the dead man had indeed broken their seal.

"So, Uchiha-san's evaluation is correct. Kirigakure does indeed possess the means to break the Hyuuga Juin," Shikaku Nara stated as everybody became silent.

"I reiterate," Danzo spoke softly, "Could he have spread the bloodline in Kirigakure? Do they now possess the Byakugan as well?"

"Possibly, but the situation is complex," Isane admitted quietly.

Many sharp intakes of breath came from most of the councilors while Hiashi nearly had a heart attack.

"Please elaborate," Sarutobi spoke quietly as even he too became serious.

"This man indeed did have the ability to pass on the Byakugan to his children, but it is a very delicate chance. I estimate that if he had any children, then they would have only a 50% chance of activating the Byakugan, and their children consecutively would also have a 50% chance of activating it, but it would be a 50% chance within the 50% of the parent in question, meaning a 25% chance from the original grandparent. At this estimate, perhaps there might be only a couple of children in Kirigakure, who might have the potential of activating the Byakugan, but it will decrease as the years pass, but if they manage to kidnap a Hyuuga female and then cross-breed the bloodlines, then there is a very real possibility that a clan of Byakugan users might arise in Kirigakure. That concludes my report," she spoke as the mood in the room turned grim.

"And do you agree with this assessment, Dr. Yakushi?" Danzo asked the chief medic of Konoha, who had assisted Isane on the autopsy along with his assistant.

"Honored Council, I speak on behalf of all the healers in the village when I say that I agree completely with Uchiha-san's assessments. In fact, I will go so far as to state that it was a privilege to work with her on this case. For the record, I will state that this report is 100% accurate, and that there is no medic in the world, dead or alive, who can prove this wrong," he spoke curtly as many looked upon him in astonishment, while Isane shot him a grateful look.

"I see, thank you for your efforts, Isane-san, Dr. Yakushi," Lord Hotohori spoke as murmurs arose in the chambers.

"Sarutobi," the Daimyo began after he had heard the assessment of Dr. Yakushi, "I wish for the ANBU of Konoha, to immediately investigate whether such children exist in Kirigakure. Spare no effort. We will not allow other villages to possess a bloodline so valuable, even if it leads to war. If this renegade did have any offspring, we want them eliminated, regardless of whether they possess the Byakugan or not," the Daimyo ordered and the Hokage nodded wearily.

"What about the Hyuuga clan? How shall we deal with their various offences?" Danzo asked quietly as everybody turned grave.

"Very well, Lord Daimyo. I admit that the Hyuuga clan is at fault here. We shall take immediate steps to...," Hiashi began when the Daimyo raised his hands.

"No more," the Daimyo declared as he announced his decision while everyone fell silent. "We find that the Hyuuga clan has committed various offences, and also has shown a decided lack of judgment in dealing with such problems. As such, we shall decide the fate of the clan," the Daimyo began when Hiashi rose unable to stop himself, "Lord Daimyo, the internal affairs of Clans are the sole responsibility of the clans itself, as agreed in the charter of Konoha's founding, it is up to us…," Hiashi began when the Daimyo stood up, and that was when Hiashi realized that he had gone too far.

"No longer," the Daimyo declared. "If necessary, we shall order the disbanding of your clan and make the Hyuuga ordinary citizens and place them under the direct control of the Fire Nation laws. And if you oppose it, Lord Hiashi, know this, a new head can always be appointed for a clan. Choose your next words, _very carefully_," the Daimyo spoke as the twelve ninja guards instantly moved in.

After a very tense moment, Hiashi acquiesced, "The Daimyo's words are law and shall be obeyed," he spoke sullenly.

Satisfied, the Daimyo sat down and continued, "As of now, the Hyuuga clan will no longer have the distinction of Main House and Branch house and thus both houses shall be united into one integrated clan. We find the practice of using Curse seals on Kin as barbaric and as such we outlaw it, henceforth. No clan in the village, not just the Hyuuga, will be allowed to use such seals. The village's seal masters shall come up with a new loyalty seal, just like the one's placed on the other bloodline clans, to ensure the safety of the Byakugan. Furthermore, from now on all Hyuuga are to be trained fully in the arts of the Jyuuken, and not just the Jyuuken, but all forms of shinobi arts. Those who oppose this decree shall be termed as traitors and shall be executed. _So let it be written, So let it be done!" _The Daimyo spoke and got up as he left the chambers abruptly.

Everybody stood up and bowed as the Daimyo walked out. As soon as the Daimyo left, Hiashi threw a venomous glare at Isane and stormed out, clearly furious at the turn of events.

* * *

As Isane turned to move, Lord Hotohori called out to her, "My dear, could you perhaps stay? The Daimyo wishes to have a word with you," he spoke as a surprised Isane nodded.

Soon, as all the council members left, Lord Hotohori led her to the chambers of the Hokage, where the Daimyo, the Hokage and Danzo were deep in discussion.

"You summoned me, your Excellency?" she asked as the Daimyo looked at her appraisingly.

"Indeed, dear girl. I am pleased to see that you have grown up to be a beautiful and capable shinobi just like your mother," the Daimyo spoke as he looked at her.

"As I was speaking to Sarutobi," the Daimyo continued, "We no longer doubt that you have indeed surpassed Tsunade-hime, in the healing arts, and we are sure that your combat abilities are just as good if not superior to hers. While, we appreciate the reason for which you have not joined the shinobi forces, to protect your dear brother, we have found a solution through which, you could serve the shinobi of the village well," the Daimyo spoke softly, as all sorts of warning bells began to go off in her head.

"I am afraid, I don't understand, your Excellency," she spoke as she looked at the four old men who were smirking at her.

"Sarutobi has been looking for an able successor to the Yondaime, and we had hoped that either Jiraiya or Tsunade-hime would take it, but they have shown no interest in it. Kakashi Hatake, the son of the White Fang, does have the power, but not the political savvy that you possess, therefore, it is our wish, that within the next three years, you succeed Sarutobi as the Godaime Hokage," the Daimyo spoke as she nearly fainted in shock.

"But, I am too young, besides, an Uchiha will never be accepted as a Kage, and that is if you ignore the fact that I am a girl," she stammered hastily as the four old men smiled.

"That would have been a problem had the former advisors lived, but even then a minor one," Danzo surprisingly replied with a thin smile as he continued, "But, even I must admit that you are the most promising candidate to arise in the last 10 years. You are of course right about being too young, therefore, all of us have decided that this election nonsense will be scrapped and instead you will be appointed as the new advisor and stay in that post for the next three years, to learn the ropes from Sarutobi himself, before you succeed him. Of course, your combat abilities need to be tested as well, but I don't think it will be a problem," the old war hawk replied as he smirked.

"I…I…need some time, this is all so sudden!!" she blurted as the four nodded.

"Of course, do take your time, but decide quickly, you have two weeks," the Daimyo spoke as she nodded and left.

* * *

As she walked back, she was confused and lost in her thoughts.

Her, as Hokage, no less!! How could it have happened!! To think that even Danzo supported her in that, she snorted at that. Of course, Danzo would never do that unless he had something to gain. Now that the Hyuuga had been disgraced, the Uchiha had been left as the sole major bloodline clan with high prestige in the village, and if he wanted to ally himself with their clan, then this was his way of doing it, by endorsing her to be Hokage.

_How did it come to this?_ She thought softly as she reached her home, when she stopped as she saw something that shocked and scared her at the same time.

Nearly twenty Hyuuga clan members lay dead around her home, and instantly, she activated her Mangekyo Sharingan and rushed inside. What she saw inside turned even her blood cold.

The walls were splattered with blood, and the corpses of nearly another 15 dead Hyuuga clan members laid in the hall of her house, along with the unconscious figures of Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Itachi, both of whom were severely injured and bleeding.

As she rushed in, she gave a terrible scream as she saw what was inside the kitchen.

_Standing inside the kitchen was a clearly deranged Hiashi Hyuuga, holding a kunai dripping with blood as he stood over the dead body of her little brother, with an insane smile on his face. _


	9. Bloodlust

* * *

_Previously_

* * *

As she walked back, she was confused and lost in her thoughts.

Her, as Hokage, no less!! How could it have happened!! To think that even Danzo supported her in that, she snorted at that. Of course, Danzo would never do that unless he had something to gain. Now that the Hyuuga had been disgraced, the Uchiha had been left as the sole major bloodline clan with high prestige in the village, and if he wanted to ally himself with their clan, then this was his way of doing it, by endorsing her to be Hokage.

_How did it come to this?_ She thought softly as she reached her home, when she stopped as she saw something that shocked and scared her at the same time.

Nearly twenty Hyuuga clan members lay dead around her home, and instantly, she activated her Mangekyo Sharingan and rushed inside. What she saw inside turned even her blood cold.

The walls were splattered with blood, and the corpses of nearly another 15 dead Hyuuga clan members laid in the hall of her house, along with the unconscious figures of Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Itachi, both of whom were severely injured and bleeding.

As she rushed in, she gave a terrible scream as she saw what was inside the kitchen.

_Standing inside the kitchen was a clearly deranged Hiashi Hyuuga, holding a kunai dripping with blood as he stood over the dead body of her little brother, with an insane smile on his face._

* * *

_Presently_

* * *

Isane sank down to her knees in horror, trembling, as she took in the scene. All that she could look at, was the state of her brother. The seven year old boy was lying on the ground, clearly dead, with his eyes open and glazed, with his hands and legs lying in different angles, clearly broken, while blood still flowed freely from the slit in his throat. It was apparent that the young boy had put up a valiant fight, but he had been clearly outclassed by the Hyuuga clan head.

She did not notice Hiashi turn towards her, nor did she hear the roar of triumph the clearly deranged man gave. She did not even care as the man charged towards her, with the intent of finishing her off.

As Hiashi Hyuuga charged at her, suddenly, a loud voice boomed out, "**AMATERASU**" and instantly, Hiashi's body was engulfed by black colored flames which began to burn him alive, as Madara Uchiha teleported into the room, with his eyes blazing with fury.

Hiashi went crashing back into the wall, and began to thrash around screaming hoarsely as the flames burnt him to a state near death, but did not allow him to perish. The black flames of Amaterasu were the highest form of fire attacks, and it was said that the temperatures of those flames were hotter than the sun. The flames of the Amaterasu burn continuously for seven days and seven nights, and only after that will the victims perish, and Hiashi Hyuuga was probably the unluckiest man in the world at the moment. He would burn alive and would do so continuously for the next seven days and seven nights, but be kept alive to suffer immense agony which would rival the sufferings of hell itself, and only after that would he be granted the mercy of death. Madara Uchiha was quite a vindictive man.

Isane ignored all that and ran towards her brother, as the Shun Shun Rikka activated automatically.

"_Soten Kisshun: I reject, I reject, I reject…,_" she screamed repeatedly as the golden oval barrier formed around her brother. The barrier instantly began to heal the extremities of the corpse, as all the injuries, and the blood vanished, while the broken bones reset themselves. Even the slit on his throat vanished, but the spark of life did not come back in the boy's eyes.

"**NO, NO, NO, NO……..I REJECT, I REJECT, I REJECT,**" the girl began to scream and increased her chakra drastically, but still, the boy did not come back to life.

Madara Uchiha watched anxiously as Isane seemed to lose her composure, when suddenly, a portal of blue light appeared near the child, as the room became icy cold and a voice was heard, divine, commanding, and forceful, _"Uchiha Isane, granted to you the power of restoring the dead has been, but know this, the soul of your brother has been claimed by the Gods themselves, and therefore, he is the only one you cannot restore to life. As stated in the pact made by the Yondaime Hokage and the Shinigami when the demon fox was sealed in him; your brother's soul has been claimed by the Gods as the price for the process of sealing the demon. With the death of your brother, the pact has been fulfilled, and the demon fox shall be sent to Yomi, never to appear in the mortal world ever again, until the end of the world. Your brother shall ascend to heaven, free from all hatred and live happily in the afterlife. Such is the price of making bargains with the Gods. Farewell."_

As the light vanished, Madara Uchiha for the first time in his life stood humbled as he watched the spectacle. He had no doubt, that he had just witnessed a divine apparition. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted as he saw the girl scream in anguish as she still stubbornly tried to revive her brother. Slowly, he walked towards her and pulled her away from the corpse and held her tightly to his bosom as she broke down and began to cry her heart out.

Suddenly, she stopped as both of them watched the same divine light engulf her brother, and slowly the body of her brother vanished.

Madara could scarcely believe his eyes. In front of his eyes, the corpse of the seven year old boy had ascended to the heavens, in spiritual form.

Isane did not care about anything. About the fact that she had hugged Uchiha 'freaking' Madara himself, or that she was being comforted by him; or by the fact that Hyuuga Hiashi was still screaming hoarsely as he was being burnt alive. He was gone. Her brother was gone. Her little Naruto was gone. She was now truly alone.

* * *

_Sometimes, it is said that even the best laid plans can go awry because of a single decision. The shinigami had sent Naruto Uzumaki back to save the Uchiha clan and Uchiha Itachi, and by consequence, to save the world from the Akatsuki itself. But all plans are subject to the ultimate wreckers of destiny, fate and chance, and by that account, the plan of the Shinigami was to change that day. _

_The decision that Isane Uchiha was to make at that moment, would change the very foundations of the elemental nations itself, and become the foundation of a cataclysmic event. Because of her decision at that moment, one day, in the future, the entire world would burn._

* * *

As Madara Uchiha watched, the girl slowly freed herself from him and walked about in a daze, when suddenly she sank down and clawed at her eyes. In front of his eyes, he watched in terrified fascination as the eyes of the girl began to bleed.

_Impossible!! Her eyes are mutating again!! But she has not taken the eyes of her brother and transplanted them into herself!! What is going on? What kind of Sharingan does she possess now? **Is it the eternal Sharingan or is it something else…?**_

Suddenly, he was cut out of his musings as a black chakra surrounded the girl, while her Sharingan glowed crimson. Madara instinctively stepped back.

_She has entered into bloodlust mode, what else is to transpire? _

The ancient Uchiha knew that Isane was right now in an unpredictable state of mind, as her bloodline had entered her most unpredictable stage. This was the hidden state of the Uchiha bloodline, which was kept secret from the world by the clan. Whenever, a member of the clan suffered a major bereavement at the hands of their enemies, their bloodline would induce a stage of bloodlust in the person, which would not be sated until the ones responsible for the said bereavement had perished at the hands of the member who was in the throes of the bloodlust. This was more pronounced in the ones who had achieved the Sharingan and was most dangerous if they had achieved Mangekyo Sharingan. Isane would now not rest until she had slaughtered the ones she believed responsible for the massacre. The Hyuuga Clan.

"Madara," she began in a cold voice as the man was broken out of his stupor, "I accept your offer, however, I need your assistance now. Aid me, and I will join your Akatsuki," she spoke as the man nodded slowly, knowing that it was futile to argue with her at the moment.

"What do you need?" he asked her quietly.

"I will annihilate the entire Hyuuga clan. They must pay for what they have done to my brother. Keep the village from interfering with my task," she spoke harshly as she went towards a desk and pulled out a scroll.

As he watched, she made some seals, and instantly, the scroll glowed as all the possessions in the house went soaring into the scroll and sealed themselves. She then went to the corner of a wall and touched a certain area, which glowed for a while and then a hidden compartment appeared.

She placed her hands inside and pulled out a sword. As he saw that sword, Madara raised his eyebrows. It was a regular katana, with a simple cross guard, which is a simple open frame, much like a four-pane window and it had a light blue handle. But he was not fooled; he could feel the power literally thrumming in vibration from the blade.

"Let us go," she spoke curtly and walked out after pocketing the scroll, leaving her house bare and empty. She did not even spare a glance towards the unconscious Itachi and Mikoto as she walked out, leaving them alone in their injured and unconscious state. And in that manner, she walked out of her home, never to return again.

As they neared the Hyuuga enclave, she spoke curtly, "I will put up the Santen Kesshun over the entire Hyuuga enclave, and it will take me exactly fifteen minutes to put up a barrier over such a vast area. Your job will be to prevent any interference on part of the village," she spoke curtly as she moved ahead, leaving a contemplative Uchiha Madara behind.

As they neared the enclave, she could see that something akin to an agitation was taking place at the Hyuuga manor. But she could care less whether they were branch house or main house members, or whoever they may be. If they were a Hyuuga, they would die, that was all.

"Mangekyo Sharingan: Shun Shun Rikka," she muttered coldly as the spheres appeared around her head.

"Santen Kesshun." She muttered and this time, instead of just two of the spheres, all six of them moved up in the air, and five of them descended around the manor surrounding it from all sides, and with a hiss, the massive barrier of golden light arose from all directions, and all of them joined up with the final sphere in the sky, effectively sealing off the Hyuuga Manor. Isane the set upon strengthening the barrier ignoring everything around her.

Meanwhile, screams erupted from the public in the area, as the public which didn't know anything thought that they were being invaded, and began to run away leaving the streets and the nearby areas devoid of any human activity.

* * *

Deep inside the basement of the ANBU HQ, five men who sat in a ring, in a circle monitoring the chakra web which covered Konoha, rose up with a gasp, as the leader screamed, "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!! THE HYUUGA MANOR HAS JUST DISAPPEARED!!"

The ANBU on watch could not believe his eyes, "Come again?" he asked incredulously, praying to God hoping that he had heard wrong.

* * *

Meanwhile, Madara was not idle as well.

Using his ring, he contacted Pein, and spoke curtly, "Pein, use your teleportation technique and instantly arrive to my aid, a situation has arisen and I need you to aid me," he spoke curtly, as Pein of the Rinnegan immediately made preparations to teleport to Konoha, to the side of his mentor.

* * *

Back at the ANBU HQ, things were chaotic, as the ANBU on watch with the five monitors, ran helter-skelter to the commander's office.

"Sir, the web reports that we are under attack!! The entire Hyuuga Clan just vanished from the net!!" he screamed as the ANBU commander choked and sprayed out the coffee he was drinking from his mouth.

"Jesus!! Alert the Hokage, get the Daimyo to safety, and mobilize the entire division, ASAP!! MOVE!!" He ordered, as he wondered how to tell the Hokage that an entire clan had vanished from right under their noses, no matter how ridiculous that phrase sounded; because the web was always correct.

* * *

Meanwhile, Madara had hastily explained to Pein telepathically about the events that had transpired, from the council meeting to the sudden dementia of Hiashi Hyuuga, leading to Naruto's death, and Isane's impending genocide on the Hyuuga clan.

After a minute, the Deva Path teleported right next to Madara Uchiha, while Konan hastily made preparations to move Nagato to a hidden area near the borders of the village.

"So, she intends for Konoha to feel her pain, a wise choice," Pein muttered quietly as he stood next to Madara Uchiha, who put on his orange mask, as mentor and protégé prepared to watch the fireworks, as Konoha literally exploded into activity.

* * *

"Move it, you maggots, you want to live forever?" a charged up Anko Mitarashi roared as she led her squad to the Hyuuga enclave. However, as they reached the area, the entire squad, and the sociopathic kunoichi stopped dead in their tracks as they eyed what was in front of them with wide open jaws.

The entire Hyuuga manor was covered in what appeared to be a golden barrier, and two men stood in front of it, watching them silently, while the area was devoid of any other life.

Both the men wore identical cloaks, black colored with a pattern of red clouds on them as they stood gazing nonchalantly at the ANBU. One of them was wearing an orange colored mask with black swirl-like patterns upon it, which revealed only one eye, and his hair was black and cut short.

The other man was much more exotic looking. He had spiky, medium length orange colored hair, and was riddled with numerous piercings, at least six piercings, a metal bar through each ear, three studs through the side of his upper nose, and one spike stud on each end of the bottom lip. He also had three piercings on each wrist, and at least one on his upper wrist, and they were just the visible ones. The ANBU stared at him for a rather long time.

Meanwhile, other ANBU squads arrived in the area as well as many of the major jonin of Konoha, including Hatake Kakashi, Asuma Sarutobi, Maito Gai, Yuuhi Kurenai, Ibiki Morino and many of the clan heads as well.

Finally, Sarutobi arrived himself, flanked by his personal guard.

Madara Uchiha and Pein were now surrounded on all sides, by at least 3/4ths of the entire shinobi force of Konoha.

"Identify yourselves," the Hokage ordered, but the two men remained Silent and still.

"Did you not hear? Answer the Lord Hokage's questions, and we might, and we emphasize the word **'might'**, spare your lives," Ibiki ordered, as everyone tensed.

As everyone watched, the piercing ridden man, whom many had silently began to think of as '_the human porcupine_', opened his mouth and spoke in a cold tone, "He is not our Kage."

"Attack, Capture them alive," the Hokage ordered as ten ANBU rushed forward at Pein. Madara looked up at the barrier. It had still been only nine minutes; they needed to stall for another six minutes to give the girl her needed time.

As the ten ANBU neared him, the Deva Path raised his right arm, pointed it towards the ANBU and simply spoke the phrase "Shinra Tensei" and instantly, the ten ANBU were blown back, repulsed by a gravity wave, and flew back at least over a distance of 100 meters and crashed down unconscious.

"What the hell?" Anko muttered in shock, paralleling the thoughts of all present as the ANBU were blown back.

The two intruders remained silent, and watched the Konoha forces impassively.

"Seneijaashu," Anko roared as she aimed her hidden snake hands at the mask wearing freak, but her jaws dropped wide open as they passed right through the man, and she stepped back, her eyes wide open with astonishment.

"Interesting," Sarutobi muttered quietly as he stepped forward, while all the Shinobi now became more cautious as they eyed the two intruders warily.

Suddenly, twenty members of the Uchiha military police moved in and simultaneously made the seals for the grand fireball technique and they roared out, "Katon: Gokyakuu no Jutsu" as twenty humungous fireballs raced towards the two men.

However, as they neared them, suddenly with a hiss, two golden colored triangular shields rose around them, and the fireballs hit the shields dissipating harmlessly, leaving the two men intact albeit covered in a lot of smoke.

The Uchiha policemen shocked at the sight, stepped back, while a figure walked out through the smoke.

Nearly every person in the village stepped back in shock as they saw who it was. It was Uchiha Isane.

"Much appreciated, but it was totally unnecessary, dear girl, we could have handled it just fine," Madara spoke courteously to her while Pein just nodded in greeting.

She neither acknowledged nor replied as she eyed the ninja of the village who were looking at her with wide eyes, many of them with the look of hurt and betrayal in them.

"Isane, explain yourself, what are you doing with the intruders?" Fugaku Uchiha spoke out in a voice of forced calmness as he eyed the girl.

"I cannot bother explaining what has happened to these ingrates. Explain it to them, while I finish my business," she retorted as she walked inside the barrier and into the Hyuuga manor, which had by then been boarded up by the residents who had prepared themselves for a siege. She calmly shattered one of the doors of the Hyuuga manor and entered it while everybody watched silently.

* * *

As she walked in, Madara sighed and looked at the villagers, "Very well, Lord Hokage. I shall explain once, therefore listen carefully. As we speak, Uchiha Isane is by now systematically eliminating the entire Hyuuga clan, down to the last breathing person," he spoke calmly as a huge uproar emerged from the crowd.

"What?" Sarutobi whispered in shock as he looked at the imposing barrier and asked in a struggling tone, "Why?"

"Ah, you have not found out yet, then?" Madara asked carefully, while secretly enjoying the spectacle.

"What do you mean?" Fugaku Uchiha asked harshly.

"Well, you all know what happened in the council meetings today, yes?" Madara asked softly as many of the council members nodded their heads gingerly in agreement.

"Holding her responsible for the reverses which his clan suffered today at the meeting, the Hyuuga clan head, Hiashi Hyuuga, attacked her home and murdered her little brother, Naruto, in cold blood," Madara spoke out casually.

The next moment, an enraged Hatake Kakashi charged at the man, and yanked him by the collar.

"**You lie**!!" he hissed as he glared at the man as if daring him to prove him wrong.

The next moment, he was flung back while Madara snidely muttered, "Unhand me, Oaf," and looked at the Hokage who looked shocked beyond comprehension.

"Dead? Little Naruto is dead?" he asked hoarsely while many in the surrounding crowd tried to come to terms with the statement.

"Of course," Madara replied casually.

"Perhaps you should know, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Mikoto tried to save the boy, but they failed, and were injured severely, even though they managed to kill at least 40 Hyuugas. As we speak, they are still lying in the girl's home, injured and unattended," Madara replied casually while a pale and frantic Fugaku immediately ordered a detachment to go check it.

"And what of Hiashi-san?" Shikaku Nara asked carefully as everybody looked at Madara.

"He is dead," Madara shrugged as if it was natural, to be speaking like this, while many took deep breaths.

"Who are you? And what is your purpose here? How do you know the girl?" Inoichi asked when they were all interrupted by loud screams, emanating from inside the Hyuuga Manor.

"_Ah, it seems that she has begun, please excuse us_," Madara spoke softly as both he and Pein walked inside the barrier, which opened just enough to allow them in and then promptly resealed itself.

"Bring that barrier down," Sarutobi roared as the ninja of Konoha moved in.

Jutsu's rained down on the barrier, Katon, Suiton, Doton, Raiton and even Futon techniques rained upon it like anything, but the barrier held true, while the two Akatsuki members watched amusedly from inside, as the shinobi of Konoha valiantly but futilely tried to bring the barrier down. Meanwhile, screams were continuously coming out from inside the Hyuuga manor.

After twenty minutes, the exhausted shinobi of Konoha stood helplessly outside the barrier, as they silently watched one of the premier clans of Konoha being slaughtered in front of them with anguished looks upon their faces.

Suddenly, one of the walls on the Hyuuga manor exploded as one of the Hyuuga elders crawled out of the hole, while Isane Uchiha walked out behind him looking calm and composed.

"NO, NO, WAIT……WE ARE SORRY!! WE ARE SORRY!! PLEASE…PLEASE…DON'T," the elder screamed hoarsely as he looked up at her in terror while he was on the ground, but she looked at him impassively.

Without uttering a word, she kicked him down, and placing a foot on his chest, plunged her sword down inside his mouth and jaggedly pulled the blade up as she split his head in half, as blood sprayed out.

"She is quite brutal, isn't she?" Madara uttered matter-of-factly as he looked at the ninja of Konoha, who were watching the proceedings looking shell shocked at the brutality of the young girl.

Sheathing her sword, Isane calmly walked up to the two Akatsuki leaders, "It is done, the Hyuuga clan is now extinct," she spoke quietly, as the two men nodded in approval.

The ninja of Konoha stood petrified as they heard her words.

"Isane, what is the meaning of this?" Sarutobi asked in shock as the girl looked at him.

"Justice," she replied quietly as she looked at the old hokage who had tears in his eyes, "This village has taken everything from me, my parents, my life, my childhood, and now my brother, the only one who I existed for. Naruto is dead, but I have delivered justice in his name; the ones who killed him are dead. I have not left a single member of the Hyuuga clan alive as punishment for their crimes. Let this be a lesson to all of you, you who oppress others just so that you may live; know this; _as of now, I no longer hold any ties to this village_," she proclaimed and made a seal as the barrier collapsed, and the three of them walked out.

"Well then, as entertaining as it has been, it is time for us to leave," Madara spoke in a falsely cheerful tone as they stepped forward.

"You think we are going to let you leave, just like that?" Ibiki Morino asked harshly as more than 200 ninja surrounded them, now that the irritating _golden barrier_ was down.

"Stand back, I will handle this," Isane spoke as a curious Madara and Pein stepped back.

"Mangekyo Sharingan," Isane muttered as her eyes morphed to reveal the dreaded Mangekyo Sharingan, with her irises showing a pattern of a black cross within them. Fugaku nearly had a heart attack as he heard those words and looked at her in fear, as he slowly stepped back.

Looking at the terror on the faces of the Uchiha clan members, the rest of the ninja of Konoha realized that something was wrong and stepped back to prepare themselves for anything the girl might unleash.

Isane quietly drew out her blade and held it in her palms and softly uttered the following words, "_Chire, Senbonzakura" _and instantly the blade in her hand vanished, as hundreds of cherry blossom petals appeared around her floating in the air.

Everybody around could not help but look at the spectacle. It was a magnificent sight. Thousands of cherry petals floating in the air decorating the very skies itself. Surrounded by those petals, the girl appeared to their eyes as beautiful beyond belief, a beautiful Goddess of death to be more precise.

At a signal from the girl, the petals moved between the crowd of surrounding ninjas who stood still looking at the petals as if they were entranced. Slowly, but surely, the petals vanished, and instantly, 200 ninjas collapsed unconscious simultaneously, as numerous deep gashes appeared on their bodies, shredding various limbs and clothing, with blood spraying out like a fountain and drenching everybody who stood nearby.

Isane calmly sheathed her blade, which had reformed and looked at Madara who looked like a child which had been set loose in a candy store.

"So, that is your third technique, is it? Fascinating," Madara spoke softly as he eyed the carnage around them.

"It matters not, it is time for us to leave," Pein spoke quietly and made some hand seals as the three of them vanished from Konoha, leaving a near riot in the village.

* * *

Soon, they appeared inside Pein's tower in Amegakure, as Madara quietly took the exhausted girl to his room and deposited her in his bed, and covered her with the sheets as he walked back, deep in thought.

"So, it is done then. She has joined us, and now there is no going back," Pein muttered and turned back as Konan teleported in using the sealing array in the chambers.

"Now, Madara, please explain to us in detail, what has happened from the beginning," Pein asked as Madara looked at him and Konan as well as Zetsu, who had come in as well.

"Sit down, this will take some time," Madara spoke softly and began to retell everything that had occurred to his three topmost subordinates.

He began from the council meeting, where the Hyuuga clan had been systematically humiliated, and then about how Isane had dealt the decisive blow in the meeting; and to the meeting with the Fire Daimyo where she had been offered the post of the Hokage.

Afterwards, he spoke about discovering the Hyuuga assault on her home, while she had been delayed at the tower, and had returned only to find that her home had been assaulted by the Hyuuga clan, and about Hiashi, the deranged Hyuuga clan head, who had killed her brother. He spoke about how he had stopped Hiashi from attacking the distraught girl and had killed him himself.

"You know what happened after that, of course," he looked at Pein and spoke softly as the man nodded in acceptance.

"So, the Kyuubi is now out of our reach for good, then?" Zetsu asked quietly as Madara nodded in reply.

"Yes, the divine apparition stated that the Kyuubi would never appear in this world again, so it seems that even I cannot summon it anymore," Madara replied quietly.

"What do we do now?" Konan asked quietly.

"Let her recuperate here for a week. Afterwards, we will introduce her to the rest of the group," Madara replied and stood up adjourning the meeting leaving everyone to their thoughts.

* * *

During the next week, a huge uproar erupted in the shinobi world, when the news of the massacre of the entire Hyuuga clan spread out. The village of Konoha declared an emergency and all retired shinobi were pressed into temporary service to fill the gaps left by the death of the Hyuuga clan.

Meanwhile, the legend of Isane Uchiha had spread as well. About a girl who was not even an official shinobi, and yet, who had single handedly massacred one of the greatest shinobi clans in the world. Her name had been entered into the Bingo Book as an S-ranked criminal with a bounty of 90 million Ryo, with a flee-on-sight order. Her name was entered into the Bingo books of other nations as well. Madara and Pein, being unknown entities, were not given that much prominence, but still they too were entered as B-class entities, with just their pictures and no information whatsoever about them.

The reactions of the public varied quite radically with regards to the Hyuuga Massacre. Some believed that the girl had finally cracked from all the bad hands that life had dealt her, while some still said that she had been corrupted by the influence of her dead demon brother. As days passed, her legend continued to grow.

And in a tower in Amegakure, Isane Uchiha slept and recuperated from her ordeal, not caring about the storm that she had unleashed upon the world.

* * *

**A WEEK LATER,**

**NEAR THE BORDERS OF AMEGAKURE,**

In a monastery, near the borders of Amegakure, the members of Akatsuki had been summoned by Pein, the leader of Akatsuki.

"What are we doing here?" Kisame, asked as he and three other members apart from Pein stood quietly.

"Our newest member is here," Pein replied softly as the eyes of the others widened in surprise.

"Who is it?" Sasori asked in a hoarse tone as he looked at the entrance quite curious as well.

"I suppose, it must be someone who must have a rather large bounty on their head," Kakuzu replied quietly.

Soon, a solitary figure was seen climbing up the stairs as the person neared them. Most of the persons in the chamber balked at seeing a 16 year old girl enter the chamber and stand in front of them.

"Uchiha……Isane," the last member spoke in a quiet hiss as he eyed the young Uchiha girl with surprise in his eyes.

Startled, Isane stared in shock at the face of the man who was scrutinizing her intensely, as he looked at her with an undisguised interest.

* * *

_Orochimaru._

* * *

_ **Author Note:**__ Next Chapter: Time skip_

_**P.S**.__ Don't ask questions, for I won't answer. I have told once already. There will be nothing in common with the manga or the anime, so if you find any deviations, understand that it was intended to be so. _


	10. Six Years Later

* * *

_Six Years Later_

* * *

In a darkened chamber, four individuals were deep in conference.

"The plan is fraught with complications. Implementation will be quite…difficult," a man spoke out quietly as he looked at the others.

"Indeed, however, if it succeeds, then we will get what we want without having to resort to any sort of violence. _They will be forced to accede to our demands. They cannot afford not to_," another man spoke out.

"But, are we certain that this is feasible?" another person spoke out, this one a woman.

"We have been looking at the schematics for this for the last three years. The spy rings of Orochimaru and Sasori have been extremely effective in gaining us the information we need. And coupled with the contacts of Kisame in Mizu no Kuni, there is a very high probability of success," the man who spoke first replied quietly.

"Still, we must consider the chance that they might resort to violence to deal with the threat we pose, after all, these are no ordinary things that we are asking in _ransom_, to use a lighter term," the woman pointed out.

"It doesn't matter. Once we are in place, then everything will work out. After all, the _Santen Kesshun_ cannot be breached, even if every living human being in the world tries to breach it at the same time," the second man spoke out softly.

"Then, do we proceed?" the first man asked quietly.

"Yes," the second man replied with a soft hiss.

* * *

Hoshigaki Kisame, dressed in his Akatsuki cloak, and wearing the traditional bamboo hat which covered his face, stood impassively on the cliffs of Hainan, near the principal port of Harima, the chief port of Mizu no Kuni, and gazed at his target, a massive ship which was putting out to sea. Even three days after he first saw it in person, the sight of the ship took his breath away. The ship he was looking at was a chemical tanker, designed to transport chemicals over water.

Ocean-going chemical tankers generally ranged from 5,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT) to 40,000 DWT in size, which is considerably smaller than the average size of other tanker types due to the specialized nature of their cargoes and the size restrictions of the port terminals where they call to load and discharge.

Chemical tankers normally have a series of separate cargo tanks which are either coated with specialized coatings such as phenolic epoxy or zinc paint, or made from stainless steel. The coating or cargo tank material determines what types of cargo a particular tank can carry: stainless steel tanks are required for aggressive acid cargoes such as sulfuric and phosphoric acid, while 'easier' cargoes - e.g. vegetable oil - can be carried in epoxy coated tanks.

The ship he was looking at was on the upper ceiling level, at 35,000 tons DWT. It was named '_Shogun_', no doubt, to bring it luck. Kisame grinned, the ship was lucky yes, but in the negative aspect.

Within weeks, this ship would set the world on edge, and the Akatsuki would be feared all over the world. When he had first heard of the plan three years ago, he had scoffed. Even people like Orochimaru and Sasori had objected at first, but when it was explained to them in detail, the reactions were quite stunning. There was no doubt in his mind that never before in the history of the elemental nations had anybody attempted such a daring maneuver.

The _Shogun_ moved slowly and sedately through the straits of the gulf and moved out into the open sea to begin its voyage to the inland harbors of the elemental nations. The breeze had freshened with the sunrise into the chilly wind coming into the northeast, causing the horizon to be hazy and vague.

The _Shogun_ was riding high, and the depth in the channel presented no problems. She was still in ballast, as she had been all the way from the harbor. She had sixty tanks, or holds, three abreast in lines of twenty fore-to-aft. One of these was the slop tank, which was used for nothing else but gathering the slops from her fifty cargo-carrying tanks. Nine were permanent ballast, to be used for nothing but pure sea water to give her stability when she was empty of cargo.

The crew had no idea what they were in for.

* * *

It had been three weeks after she had left the sea waters of Mizu no Kuni and entered the freshwater canals near Tsuchi no Kuni, on route to the river port of Kawanakajima, the only river port near the land of Earth.

The crew, taking advantage of the moderate winds, and the chance to amuse themselves by fishing themselves in the fresh water river lazed about and were in quite cheerful spirits.

At around the time of sunset, most of the crew above the deck was treated to a beautiful sight. Drifting through the breeze, _thousands of cherry blossom petals were floating in the air, _giving the wind a look of ethereal beauty. As the enthralled crew watched, the petals moved over the deck and floated around, and then, they disappeared as suddenly all the crew members who were above the deck fell down simultaneously, dead, due to numerous gashes which appeared on their bodies as blood sprayed out like thin mist covering the flooring of the deck in a wet slick of blood.

Seven white clay birds descended from the sky near the deck as the figures above them jumped down on to the ship.

"Now that…is what I call art!!" the youngest of the seven spoke excitedly as he eyed one of the two women amongst the group and gave a slight bow. The woman did not even bother to acknowledge and just moved in while the others snickered lightly.

"Tough luck, kid," Kisame smirked as he too moved forward while a dejected looking Deidara meekly followed the man.

In his cabin, Captain Aikawa had no idea as to what he was about to endure. Just as he prepared to go to sleep, someone knocked on the door of his cabin. Grumbling, the captain went to open the door.

As he opened the door however, he was shocked to silence. Standing in front of him, was a young woman, with possibly the most entrancing eyes he had ever seen. She was around 5'7, and was athletic looking, and was quite a beauty. She was wearing a black cloak, patterned with the designs of red clouds upon them.

Nodding gracefully, the woman invited herself into his cabin, followed by another beautiful woman. She too was dressed identically, however, the most distinguishing feature about her, was her hair. It was blue colored and she also had a piercing beneath her bottom lip.

"I am Captain Aikawa Love, master of the '_Shogun,'_ he said slowly, "Who are you?"

"Never mind who we are," the woman with the entrancing eyes spoke softly.

"Captain Aikawa, you have a problem," she continued in the same tone as the man's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?" he asked gruffly as the woman smiled.

"Well, as of now, we have taken control of your ship, so unless you do as instructed, we will have to make examples of your seamen, what will it be?" she asked softly as the Captain stood up.

"I advise you not to be so hasty, captain," the blue haired woman spoke for the first time. "You have a Bingo Book with you, yes?" she asked as the Captain nodded gingerly. Every ship in the world carried a Bingo Book, because quite an amount of Nuke Nin made their livings as Pirates as well. So it was custom, especially for ships sailing under the flag of Mizu no Kuni to always carry a Bingo Book with them, as well as a complement of Samurai and Ninja to help counter Pirates.

"I suggest you take out yours, and move over to the pages of the most dangerous section," she continued as the man gruffly took out a Bingo Book from his drawer and flipped it open.

As he flipped through the pages, suddenly, his hands trembled as he looked at the face of the younger woman, and then he rechecked the book. He dropped the book from his shaking hands and whispered, "Uchiha………Isane!!"

"Glad to know that you know who I am, Captain, now, since you know that it is futile to resist us, what say we get down to business?" Isane asked quietly as the Captain began to shake like mad.

"What do you want with this ship? Why are you here?" he asked in a slow tone as the young woman stood up.

"You will find out, now please follow us to the radio room," she spoke and stood up and beckoned him to follow her, as Konan walked out of the cabin ahead of them.

* * *

Soon, in the radio room, Captain Aikawa came face to face with the rest of the members of the Akatsuki who were on board. He instantly paled as he recognized Kisame and Orochimaru from the Bingo books, and his demeanor paled considerably.

"Please sit down, Captain," Orochimaru spoke softly as he eyed the man. As the senior most member present, at least age-wise, Orochimaru had been tasked by Pein as the leader for the sake of appearance. Isane and Konan quietly moved and stood at the corner as Orochimaru began to get to work.

The man was a master at psychological manipulation, and the rest of the Akatsuki were about to watch a master at work.

"Captain Aikawa, please sit down, and place your arms on the table, palms down, please do not expect to be rescued by the samurai and ninja contingent aboard your ship, for it will not happen," Orochimaru spoke softly and moved around the table, like a tiger waiting to pounce on its prey.

"Where are they?" the Captain asked after a moment.

"Well," Orochimaru smiled quietly in a very chilling manner, "to use your nautical terms, they are sleeping with the fishes," the Sannin spoke softly while the Captain sighed in despair.

"If you harm my crew, I will……," the Captain began when Orochimaru interrupted him.

"Your chivalry is admirable, your sense of reality deplorable," Orochimaru spoke quietly. "Obey our commands and no one will be hurt. Fail to comply and the waters will literally run red with blood," he spoke coldly and the Captain nodded.

Just then Deidara entered the cabins, along with another hostage, whom the Captain recognized as the Cargo Hold Inspector.

"Well?" Orochimaru asked quietly as Deidara gave a thumbs-up signal. The Akatsuki members gave a small smile. Phase 1 was now complete.

"Captain Aikawa, we will now contact the Port Authority of Kawanakajima, where you will deliver this message to them," Orochimaru spoke softly as he handed over a note upon which some instructions were written.

As he read what was on the note, the Captain trembled so badly, that he felt nauseous.

"You can't be serious!! Do you know what this will cause?" he shouted in fear, forgetting his predicament.

"Yes, _exactly_, that is the reason why they will have to obey our commands, and you will do as we say Captain; unless you want the blood of your crew upon your hands," Orochimaru warned quietly.

Dejected, Captain Aikawa nodded mutely as he sank down on his chair.

"Excellent," Orochimaru nodded as he turned towards his companions, "Sasori, Kisame, Kakuzu, Hidan, you four have the first watch, Deidara has already laid out the minefield, so just maintain a tight vigil," Orochimaru spoke out curtly.

"What the hell? It is freezing out there!! Why don't you send those two as well?" Hidan asked grumpily as he pointed towards Isane and Konan who stood impassively.

"Because I am a gentleman, you don't expect me to send two young women out into the freezing cold, do you?" Orochimaru drawled smoothly as Deidara snickered at the flushed face of Hidan.

"Gentleman, my ass!! Creepy pedophile," Hidan muttered snidely and walked out grumbling while a stoic Kakuzu followed his companion out.

Deidara began to make small crackers and began to burst them in a idle effort to amuse himself while Orochimaru turned towards Captain Aikawa, "Shall we begin?"

* * *

Despite the relatively low amount of technology in the Elemental Nations, Radio communications technology was one thing that had developed surprisingly well. Radio communications were used extensively for commercial purposes, although Shinobi still deferred to the tried and tested method of messenger birds and summonses for military communications, and radio earpieces were used only for short distances, since the frequencies could be hacked into by anybody.

At the Kawanakajima Port Radio watchtower, the duty officer on duty at that particular shift, Hisagi, stretched and yawned. He would be going home for a well –earned breakfast and sleep in another fifteen minutes. It seemed quite relaxing to the young man.

Suddenly, the speaker in front of him came to life. "Kawanakajima Tower, Kawanakajima Tower, this is the _Shogun. _Captain Aikawa Love speaking._" _

The ship was on channel twenty, the usual channel used by all seafaring ships. Hisagi leaned forward and flicked a switch.

"_Shogun._ This is Kawanakajima. Go ahead."

What followed caused Hisagi to shoot bolt upright in his chair.

"_Shogun _to Kawanakajima. We have an emergency. I repeat; we have an emergency."

Hisagi covered the speaker with his hand and yelled to his fellow duty officer to switch on the tape recorder. When it was spinning to record the conversation, he removed his hand and said carefully, "_Shogun, _this is Kawanakajima. Please confirm."

"Kawanakajima, this is _Shogun. _Confirm."

"_Shogun, _please give details of your emergency."

There was silence for ten seconds, as if consultations were taking aboard the ship far out at sea. Then the voice of the Captain of the _Shogun_ boomed out again in the radio tower.

"Kawanakajima. _Shogun. _I cannot give the nature of the emergency. But if any attempt is made by anyone to approach the ship, then people will get killed. Please stay away. Do not make any further attempt to contact us. In precisely another two hours, we will make contact with you. Please have the master of the Harbor present in the tower by then. That is all."

The voice ended and there was a loud click. Hisagi tried to call back two to three times. Then he looked across at his colleague. "What the hell did that mean?"

"I don't like the sound of this," his companion shrugged his shoulders. " He sounded as if he might be in danger."

"He spoke of men getting killed," said Hisagi. "How killed? What's he got? A mutiny?"

"We had better do what he says, until this is sorted out," his companion spoke quietly.

"Right, I am going to speak with the chief, you be on guard and contact me immediately, if they call again," Hisagi spoke as he moved to get the Harbor master.

* * *

In his office, the Harbor Master Hiroyuki Sanada was busy handling some documents, when Hisagi knocked on his door and entered his office. It took twenty minutes for the radio operator to deliver the message.

"What did he mean, killed?" Sanada asked. "Right, return to your post, I will be there in fifteen minutes."

As he made his way to the tower, he was fighting back thoughts of his personal and abiding nightmare.

"_Dear God, not a hijack. Please not a Hijack._"

Half an hour later, Hiroyuki Sanada was entering the Radio tower to listen to the tape recording of the initial conversation. He was at a loss, because if it was indeed a hijacking, he could not understand why somebody would hijack a chemical tanker of all things? What did they hope to gain if they did so?

"Kawanakajima. Kawanakajima. This is the _Shogun._"

Captain Aikawa's baritone voice echoed into the main control room of the Radio tower of the Harbor. Hisagi, and his companion, Madarame, were still on duty, thoughts of breakfast and home forgotten. Sanada stood behind Hisagi, ready to take over when the call came through.

When the call came through, Hisagi stood up as the Harbor Master took over.

"_Shogun. _This is the Harbor Master of Kawanakajima, Hiroyuki Sanada speaking, please go ahead."

"I am Captain Aikawa Love, of the _Shogun. _ I am about to read a prepared statement. Please do not interrupt and please do not ask any questions."

'"Approximately one day ago, the _Shogun _ was taken over by armed pirates. I have already been given ample reason to believe that they are in dead earnest and are prepared to carry out all threats unless their demands are met."'

In the radio tower there was a hiss of indrawn breath from Sanada.

"My entire crew has been locked at the bottom most part of the ship, behind steel doors, and they cannot escape. So far no harm has come to them. I myself am held hostage personally by the leaders of the pirates."

"During the night, explosive charges have been placed at strategic positions at various points inside the _Shogun's _hull. I have examined these myself and can corroborate that if exploded they would blast the ship apart, kill the crew instantly and vent thirty thousand tons of raw and poisonous chemicals into the river."

"Oh, my God," a voice said behind Sanada. He waved an impatient hand for the speaker to shut up.

'"These are the immediate demands of the men who hold this ship prisoner. One, all water traffic is to be cleared at once from the area inside the arc from a line forty-five degrees south of a bearing due east of the _Shogun, _and forty-five degrees north of the same bearing; that is, inside a ninety-degree arc between the _Shogun _ and the coast. Second, no attempt must be made to approach the ship. Is that clear? You may answer."

Sanada gripped the microphone hard.

"_Shogun. _This is Kawanakajima. Yes. Your orders have been received and they will be obeyed immediately. I will have all surface traffic cleared immediately in the area enclosed by the ninety-degree arc between the _Shogun _and the coast. Over."

There was a pause, and Aikawa's voice came back.

"I am informed that if there is any attempt to breach these orders, there will be an immediate riposte without further consultation. Either the _Shogun _will vent five thousand tons of chemicals into the water or one of my seamen will be…….executed. Is that clear? You may answer."

Hiroyuki Sanada turned to his traffic controllers.

"Holy Fuck!! Get the shipping out of the damn area, **NOW**!! No movement., either government or private, **do it**!!"

To the microphone he said, "Understood, Captain Aikawa. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. There will be no further contact for the next twelve hours. By then, I will wish to speak directly to the Daimyo of Tsuchi no Kuni himself. If not, you have been warned of the consequences. Over and out."

The microphone went dead. On the bridge of the _Shogun, _Captain Aikawa placed the radio down as he looked at Orochimaru.

"Now what?" he asked as he looked at the Sannin.

"Now we wait, as the whole world goes mad," Orochimaru replied softly.

* * *

At Mutsu, near the chief port of Fire country, in the coastguard radio tower, the radio monitor duty officer on watch quietly walked over to his superior.

"By God, those Earth country idiots have got themselves a problem this time," said his companion who had also heard the conversation between the _Shogun _and the Port officials of Kawanakajima over the radio web.

"It is not just them," retorted the man. "Look at the map."

On the wall, an entire map of the elemental nations was pinned. It showed the inland waterways between all nations, and Kawanakajima was right in the center of it. The senior operator marked the position of the ship on the map and looked over the map.

"If she blows lad, our coasts will also be under a foot of chemicals. But more importantly, if those pirates do blow it up, then they will permanently screw up the only major source of freshwater for all the elemental nations, leading to a worldwide drought, and famine, because without fresh water, there ain't no way to grow crops anymore._ The entire world will be brought to its knees because of thirst and hunger_. Who the hell are these assholes? And more importantly, what the fuck do they want?"

"Fuck, this is way beyond our pay grade!! Draft two letters, one to the Hokage, and one to the Fire Daimyo as well, and make copies of those audio tapes to go along as well," their boss spoke quietly as he too considered the ramifications of what had happened. His aide ran to draft the two letters, wondering how he was going to mention that the entire world was being held hostage to the rulers of his nation, and more importantly, hoping that they wouldn't cut his head off, on the off chance thinking that this was some sort of weird bullshit.

"And you two," he turned to face the two radio operators. "Man the radio, and let me know if anything develops. One thing is for sure, ain't anybody sleeping tonight in all of the Elemental Nations!! By god, this is one major cluster-fuck!!" the man swore as he looked out of the window watching the sun set down slowly.

* * *

**AN:** Okay, as I said before, radically different from Manga, and therefore, yes, Orochimaru is still in Akatsuki, and no I am not giving out anymore details.

As for the hijack scenario, I adapted this theme from the book 'The devil's alternative' by Frederick Forsyth. However, it is much more complex and a million times better in the book, while mine is just a pale adaptation. What I have adapted for my story does not even cover five percent of what is in the book. I repeat, I have just borrowed the theme, but everything else, is my own concept and creation. So, just watch out for more, Okay??

**P.S:** Therefore, even the landscape of the Naruto world is different in my story than from canon, so please do not try to suggest corrections. This has been done purposefully to aid my story. AU, remember that dudes!!


	11. The World is my Hostage

**_At the Royal Palace, in the Capital of Hi no Kuni,_**

* * *

The phrase _'crisis management committee_' was already being thought about in the capital of Hi no Kuni, albeit as yet unspoken, in the royal palace. Lord Hotohori, the chamberlain of the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni, was at the moment, discussing possible resolution scenarios with Kouga Gennosuke, the general of the samurai armies of Hi no Kuni.

"It is too early as of now, Hotohori – dono," said Gennosuke. "We don't know who they are, how many there are, if they are really serious in their intentions, and whether they have the level of expertise required to carry out their threats in actuality. But if that amount of chemicals did get spilt, it would be rather messy."

Lord Hotohori thought for a moment, gazing out through his first floor windows in the palace chambers.

"It was wise of you to call so promptly, Lord General," he said. "I shall inform the Daimyo at once. In the meantime, just as a precaution, could you ask a couple of your best minds to put together a presentation on the prospective consequences if that ship does indeed blow up? Question of spillage, area of waterfront covered, water flow, speed, area of our coastline likely to be affected. That sort of thing. I am pretty sure he will ask for it."

"I have it in hand already, Hotohori – dono."

"Excellent," said the chamberlain, "fast as possible. I am sure he will want to know, he always does."

Hotohori had served three daimyo's, and the latest was by far the toughest and most decisive. The chamberlain got his appointment within minutes, as he always did, and made his way to the Daimyo's personal study.

When he entered the daimyo's private study, he saw that the man was at his desk, where he had been since eight o'clock. A cup of the finest china, holding his tea was set at his side, and three dispatch boxes lay open at the ground near him. Lord Hotohori was admiring; the man went through documentation like a paper shredder, and they were already finished in two hours, either agreed, or rejected, or bearing a crisp request for further information, or a series of pertinent questions.

"Good morning, my lord."

"Good morning, Lord Hotohori."

"Indeed, sire. Unfortunately it has brought a piece of unpleasantness with it."

He took a seat at the Daimyo's gesture, and accurately sketched in the details of the affair in Kawanakajima, as well as he knew them. The daimyo was alert, absorptive.

"If it is true, then this ship, the _Shogun,_ could cause an environmental disaster," he said flatly.

"Indeed, though we do not know yet the exact feasibility of sinking such a gigantic vessel, with what are, we presume to be industrial level explosives. There are people, who would be able to give an assessment, of course."

The daimyo considered that for a moment.

"In the event that it is true," said the daimyo, "I believe we should form a crisis management committee to consider the implications. If it is not, then we have the opportunity for a realistic exercise."

Lord Hotohori raised an eyebrow. The idea of putting a thunderflash down the trousers of a dozen imperial ministries as an exercise had not occurred to him. He supposed it had a certain charm.

For thirty minutes, the daimyo and the chamberlain listed the areas in which they would need professional expertise if they were to be accurately informed of the options in a major tanker hijack in Tsuchi no Kuni.

In the matter of the chemical tanker herself, they decided to summon experts from the imperial navy, who would have expertise in dealing with such marine vessels, who could assess the situation, and give a precise judgment on feasibility.

They would also require experts from the research laboratories run by the departments of trade and industry, to handle the matter of spillage control.

Slowly, by the end of another hour, the list seemed to be complete. Lord Hotohori prepared to leave.

"Do you think the government of Tsuchi no Kuni will handle this affair?" asked the daimyo.

"It's early days to say, sire. At the moment, the terrorists have declared their intentions to put their demands personally to Tsuchi – dono himself, in ninety minutes. I have no doubt that Tsuchi no Kuni, and Iwagakure no Sato will feel able to handle the matter. But, if the demands cannot be met, or if the ship blows any way, then as a coastal nation, we are involved in any case."

"Furthermore, our capacity to deal with such chemical contaminations is the most advanced in the elemental nations, so we might receive a request for assistance, but that is speculation at the moment."

"Then the sooner we are ready, the better," said the daimyo. "One last thing, Lord Hotohori. It will probably never come to it, but if the demands cannot be met, the contingency may have to be considered of storming the vessel to liberate the crew and defuse the explosives."

"Ah, yes … sire, but that would of course be a last resort," the man reported in a cautious manner.

"Perhaps so," the daimyo said sagely. "But, sometimes, when push comes to a shove, we may be left with no alternative. Supposing it were to happen again."

"Well sire, that is a matter left to chance, after all."

The daimyo nodded again, his face frowning in thought, "Could the ninja of Iwagakure, handle such a mission?"

Lord Hotohori chose his words carefully. He had a vision of ninjas floating in the waters like fishes, clumping all over the palace. It would be far better to keep those people playing their lethal games in their own yard.

"I shall ask again, Lord Hotohori, would it be possible for a group of ninjas to storm the vessel from underwater, and liberate it?" came the question from the daimyo.

Lord Hotohori closed his eyes. Ninjas from underwater indeed. He was now convinced that politicians read too much adventure novels for their own good, (all fault of that damn Jiraiya of course, come to think of it, he would have to make sure that his servant would purchase the newest edition which was soon to be released), however he collected his thoughts quickly, after recomposing himself, and carefully replied.

"Ninjas, sire? I am not certain whether I am the correct person to make that evaluation," the chamberlain replied in a soft tone as he gazed at the Daimyo, who was staring at him with a quiet intensity.

The blue eyes across the desk did not leave him, "I believe," he said clearly, "that our hidden village's capacity in this regard, is the most advanced in the world, even over Kirigakure no Sato, which claims dominion over this terrain of unconventional warfare."

"I believe it may well be so, sire."

"In that case, kindly do send a summons to Sarutobi and Danzo, to come over here and advise us, in a consultative capacity of course."

"Of course, sire," the chamberlain nodded.

"And summon the royal council. I shall expect you to take the chair at noon, when the terrorists' demands are known."

* * *

**_At the Royal Palace, in the Capital of Tsuchi no Kuni,_**

**_

* * *

_**

Three hundred miles across the seas, the activity in Tsuchi no Kuni, was already by mid – morning becoming frenetic.

Within the confines of his palace, the Tsuchi – daimyo and his staff were putting through the same sort of crisis management committee that Lord Hotohori and Hi – daimyo were putting together. The first requirement was to know the exact perspectives of any conceivable human or environmental tragedy stemming from damage at sea to a ship like the _Shogun_, and the various options the government of the earth country faced.

To secure this information the same kinds of experts were being called upon for their specialized knowledge: in shipping, chemical leaks, tides, speeds, directions, future weather prospects and even the military option.

Hiroyuki Sanada, the harbor master of Kawanakajima, having delivered the tape recording of the message from the _Shogun_, was now back at his position at the harbor, with the instructions to monitor the radios, in case the pirates called again.

Around the _Shogun, _the sea was emptying. Working with extreme efficiency, the traffic controllers of the port, Hisagi and Madarame, diverted shipping into sea – lanes west of the ship, the nearest being five miles west.

Eastwards of the stricken ship, coastal traffic was ordered to stop or turn back, and movements into and out of Kawanakajima and Tsuchi no Kuni were halted. Angry sea captains, whose voices poured into the radio tower of the port demanding explanations, were simply told that an emergency had arisen and they were to avoid at all costs the sea area whose co – ordinates were read out to them.

The one lining in the silver cloud was the fact that the general public in all the affected nations were unaware of the fact that such a grave danger awaited the entire world. Still, the government of Tsuchi no Kuni, as a matter of courtesy informed the ambassadors of all the nations remotely concerned: Hi no Kuni, Kaminari no Kuni, Kaze no Kuni, Mizu no Kuni, Nami no Kuni, Kawa no Kuni (land of rivers), Amegakure, Kusagakure, Takigakure and Hoshigakure were informed.

* * *

In nine capitals across the world, harried ministers ran helter – skelter trying to make sense of what was happening. For those in government, banking, shipping, insurance, and the armed forces, the prospect of a quiet weekend that Friday morning receded into the flat blue ocean where under a warm spring sun, a 35,000 – ton bomb silently floated in the waters.

Inside the palace in Tsuchi no Kuni, the royal treasurer stared at his pad, as he jotted down some calculations, "We are talking about a thousand million Ryo worth of damage if the worst comes to the worst," he remarked to his aide, "_who the fuck are these people_?"

* * *

**_Inside the Shogun, Currently held captive by the Akatsuki,_**

**_

* * *

_**

The ostensible leader of the people in question, sat at the epicenter of the growing storm, inside the ship, as he gazed at the captain of the ship, who stared right back at him, in the day cabin beneath the starboard wing of the Shogun's bridge. The curtains were drawn back and the sun shone warmly. From the windows a panoramic view was shown of the silent foredecks, running away a quarter of a mile to the tiny forecastle.

The miniature, shrouded figure of a man sat high on the bow apron above the stem looking out and around him, at the glittering blue sea. Either side of the vessel the same blue water lay calm, a mild zephyr ruffling its surface. During that morning, the breeze had gently blown away the invisible clouds of inert poisonous gases that had welled out from the holds when the inspection hatches were lifted; it was now safe to walk along the deck, or the man on the forecastle would not be there.

The temperature in the cabin was still stabilized, the air conditioning having taken over from the central heating when the sun became hotter through the double – glazed windows.

Love Aikawa sat where he had sat all morning, at one end of his main table, with Orochimaru on the other end.

Since the argument between the radio call, there had been mainly silence between them. The tension of waiting was beginning to make itself felt. Each of them knew that across the water in all directions frantic preparations would be taking place; firstly to try and estimate exactly what had happened aboard the ship the previous, and secondly to estimate what if anything could be done about it.

Aikawa knew that no one would do anything, take any initiative until the noon broadcast of demands. In that sense, the ninja in front of him had outdone himself. He had elected to keep the authorities guessing. By forcing Aikawa to speak in his stead, Orochimaru had given no clue to his identity or to his origins to the people on shore. Even his motivations were unknown outside the cabin in which they sat. In addition, the authorities would want to know more, to analyze the tapes of the radio broadcast, for speech and voice patterns, to identify the origins of the speaker. Orochimaru was denying them that information, undermining the self – confidence of the men he had challenged to defy him.

He was giving the world ample time to learn of the disaster, but not the terms; letting them evaluate the scale of catastrophe if the _Shogun _blew up, so that their head of steam, their capacity to pressure the authorities, would be well – prepared ahead of the demands. When the demands came, they would appear mild compared to the alternative, thus subjecting them to enormous pressure before they even considered the demands.

* * *

"Come captain, our worldwide audience awaits," Orochimaru spoke with a thin smile that never reached his eyes, as he beckoned the captain to follow him.

In the radio room, Orochimaru took the handset of the radio – telephone, and pressed transmit, as he handed another sheet for Aikawa to read out from.

"Kawanakajima Harbor, Kawanakajima Harbor, come in, this is the _Shogun_."

Though he did not know it, over fifteen different offices received the call. Five major shinobi villages were listening, as were some of the minor ones along with all the nations that were involved in this affair. The words were heard and relayed simultaneously to the ANBU in Konoha, to the KAZE in Suna, to the Kinkaku in Kumo, to the Oinin in Kiri, and the IWA in Iwagakure. There were coast guards, ship captains and many others listening.

A voice came back over the radio, "_Shogun,_ this is Kawanakajima, go ahead."

Love Aikawa read from his sheet of paper. "This is Captain Aikawa Love. I wish to speak to the daimyo of Tsuchi no Kuni."

A new voice came over the radio. "_Your demands have been accepted, and the Daimyo is now in your presence. Proceed_."

Aikawa just stared at the headset. That haughty demeanor even under pressure, and such regal tones could only mean one thing. The daimyo was indeed listening.

Apparently, Orochimaru had reached the same conclusion and nodded at the Captain, "Read it out."

After clearing his throat, Aikawa continued, _" __I repeat what I have stated this morning. The Shogun is in the hands of Partisans. Explosive devices have been placed, which would, if detonated, blow her apart. These devices can be detonated at the mere snap of a finger. I repeat, at the snap of a finger. No attempt whatever must be made to approach her, board her, or attack or her in any way. In such an event, the explosives will be detonated instantly. The people concerned have convinced me that they are prepared to die rather than give in.__"_

_"I repeat, if any attempt to approach us is made, then either two of my seamen will be executed or five thousand tons of poisonous chemicals will be vented into the waters, corrupting both the seas and the sole freshwater sources for the entire world for the next hundred years, immediatley. Here are the demands of the partisans:_

_The partisans demand that the following people be handed over to them, without any arguments, and no questions asked. They are –_

_Sabaku no Gaara from Sunagakure no Sato_

_Nii Yugito from Kumogakure no Sato_

_Roushi of Iwagakure no Sato_

_Han of Iwagakure no Sato_

_Utakata of Kirigakure no Sato_

_Fuu of Takigakure no Sato_

_& Kira Bii of Kumogakure no Sato_

_This is non – negotiable, and must be complied with by haste. The Partisans have assured me that they will not be satisfied with anything less than absolute compliance. I shall now read out the personal message by the leader of the Partisans directed towards the Tsuchi – daimyo, quote, 'Listen to my words, old man. 'Yes__'__ will be the next word that you speak when we contact you again. Make note that non – compliance will result in an agonizing death, not for you, but for all your subjects; and most of the civilized world, will die of thirst and hunger should you not comply. Don't ask questions. Don't say a word. You have no rights and no options. In your hands, you hold the ropes keeping safely the guillotine that suspends over the necks of almost every living being in the world. I hope you understand, old man. We are not negotiating. We are giving you an order. Hear and obey', unquote.__"_

_"Out of time constraints, we are giving you three days. Three days to save the world from a horrible fate. Failure to comply will make you solely responsible for causing the destruction of the entire world. Decide now what you wish to do. That is all. There will be no further contact, until these demands are met.__"_

* * *

The radio – telephone went dead with a click. The silence persisted within the castle, as everybody looked up to see the reaction of the daimyo.

With a sigh, the Tsuchi – daimyo turned towards his chamberlain.

"Summon Onoki, and send messages to all the daimyo's and request a combined grand council meeting of the five daimyo's and the five Kage's. Tsuchi no Kuni will not be blamed alone for this outrage. If the fate of the entire world is to be decided upon, it is fitting that the responsibility and _the blame _be shared equally, by all the rulers of the world. And see to it that this news is not leaked to the general public. I would rather not be burdened by anarchist riots, not before there is even a reason for them to start."

In four other nations, chiefly, along with quite a few others, many roars of outrage could be heard from those who mattered, indicating clearly, what was to come in the near future.

A storm like the world had never seen before.

* * *

**Authors note: **

**I know, I have updated after quite a long time, but it appears that I have now got over my writing block with regards to my older stories, so, now, you can expect updates for all of my old stories in the weeks to come. Isane and the Akatsuki will appear in the next chapter, so, be patient.**


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